Shadows in the Tunnel
by jake111
Summary: For Madison Victory, life couldn't get any better. She has wealth, friends, and the best education in the prewar world. But Life is a long winding tunnel, and you never know what lies hidden in the shadows. Currently rated T for swearing, but may change.
1. Chapter 1

_My father served in the Operation Fallen Aguila. He was with the Green Berets inserted a week before the invasion. I was five at the time, I remember my mother watching the news every day as tensions on the border escalated. She never showed it, but I know she must have been terrified. I can still remember the news coverage as the First Infantry Division marched into Mexico City in picture perfect detail. My father wasn't one of the soldiers grinning and waving from the top of the armored personnel carriers, he wasn't on the periphery, he wasn't even in that picture, or any of them. You can go through every press release, all the videos from the embedded reporters, every single bit of news coverage from that campaign, and you'll never find even a mention of my father or any of the men from his unit. They are the shadow warriors, the unknown soldiers, the unsung heroes of our age._

"It's an interesting premise Madison, and I do like your opening. Though I'm not sure if some of your sources are entirely credible. I think that this might just be too difficult of a topic for you to cover." The professor set the sheaf of papers down on his desk and adjusted his glasses. They were fake obviously, and affectation to go with his tweed jacket and pipe.

Madison had worried about her sources, a few had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but their accounts were mostly corroborated by more mentally stable veterans. It would have been so much easier if she had just been granted access to the records that she'd requested from the Army.

The college freshman adjusted her bomber jacket, "I'm sorry professor, but without any of the documents I requested, I had to stick with firsthand accounts."

The Professor put his pipe in his mouth and leaned back, doing his best to look thoughtful. There wasn't even tobacco in his pipe. Something about the level of effort he put into his façade that truly irritated her, but he was the one who got to decide her grade, so she forced that feeling back down. Maybe it was how easily she could see through it.

"I'll tell you what, I'll take this home over the break and give it a good read. I'm sure that I can point out a few tweaks for you that'll make this into a decent final."

It is a decent final, in fact it's a great final you misogynistic prick, Madison thought.

She didn't say that though, instead she smiled and said, "Thank you Professor Emery."

There was that condescending smile again, "No problem Miss Victory, have a good break."

Madison contained her anger as she walked out of the lecture hall. She contained her anger as she walked to her Chryslus Rocket 69 in the C.I.T. parking lot. Once she was safely inside her car, she fumed.

"That dumb condescending misogynistic asshole." She'd been dealing with it since she enrolled, even in 2065, there were still jackasses like Emery who figured that since she was rich and a woman that she must be a dumb socialite who was only in college to get hammered and find a husband.

She turned her car on and maneuvered it into traffic, god she loved her Rocket. The fastest car on the market, the closest thing to a fighter jet on the road. And outfitted with the newest in RobCo tech.

"Emma calling… Emma calling…" The car's onboard computer said.

"Accept call," Madison said as she pulled onto the freeway and pushed the throttle forward. The car lived up to its namesake, if it had wings she would be flying.

"Hey Maddy, how'd it go with Emery?"

"As well as I expected." Madison worked the control stick, weaving through the hundred mile an hour traffic.

"Don't let him get to you, he thinks you're dumb that just because you're dad's the COO of RobCo and that you're hot as hell. You're a total genius, speaking of which, I found the perfec-."

"I'm not all that hot Emma, and I'm not a genius, but otherwise you're preaching to the choir. And the answer to your next question is no, I'm not going on a date with the guy you found." If only she'd stop trying to set me up, Madison thought.

"Come on, he's a great guy, his name is Edward Deegan."

"No Emma, I told you, dating waits until after my degree." Career first, then find someone who lasts more than a night.

"Alright, are we still on for coffee tomorrow? We have to make sure everything's set for our trip to Point Lookout."

"Of course, see you tomorrow Emma."

"Later, and please don't drive that freaking Rocket like you always do. It's dangerous."

Madison grinned, "Emma, when do I ever do anything dangerous."

 **This is just a little fallout 4 story that struck me after binging on the game over break. It's not connected to my other Fallout story, as if I get to a certain point with that, it's going to contradict Fallout 4.**

 **There's more to this story, in case you didn't notice, this is pre war. Part of my personal explanation for why a former lawyer can clear a room with skill of a professional soldier.**

 **Also, I know the name Rocket 69 implies it was made in 2069, but since there's no specific lore on it, I prefer to think of it as in the Q-35. It took them 35 tries to get that right, and it took them 69 tries to get the Rocket right.**

 **So guys, tell me what you think? good, bad, in between?**

 **R &R people.**


	2. Chapter 2

Madison stepped into the coffee shop, it was their regular place. The barista grinned when he saw her. "Hey, there's my favorite rich girl. How's life over at C.I.T. with all the other geniuses?"

"I'm not a genius Liam, but it's great. Just get me the usual. How's Mass U?" Madison leaned on the counter, enjoying the scent of fresh ground coffee.

"One French vanilla cappuccino coming right up. I was accepted, I start this fall, on scholarship of course with the rest of the peasants." Liam turned to get her drink.

"Come on Liam, I'm not that rich."

Liam set the cappuccino in front of her, "Your dad is the Chief Operations Officer at the biggest tech company in the country. You and Emma live in that swanky apartment in House Tower. You two go to the best college in the country. And let's not talk about that fighter jet sitting in the parking lot. Face it love, you're loaded."

Madison pulled her wallet out of her jacket with a chuckle, "Fine Liam, I can never argue with you. You should go into law instead of business."

"I'll cover it" before she could pull the money out of her wallet, a hand reached around her and tossed a few dollars on the counter.

"Keep the change." Madison turned to see a tall, well-built, man in a suit looming over her.

"Thank you Mister…" She scanned her memory for a name, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't match one to the man's face.

"Williams, Robert Williams, it's good to see you again Madison. Can I have a few minutes of your time?" The man gestured to a table in the back of the shop.

Madison paused, "I'm meeting a friend…"

The man checked his watch, "Yes, your roommate, Miss Delano, she's caught in traffic. We have about fifteen minutes until she arrives. In the meantime, shall we sit down?" He gestured again towards the table.

Madison looked pensive for a moment, but relented, "Sure, and you can tell me how you know where Emma is right now." She threw a look Liam's way, he nodded, receiving the intended message. If the man in the suit started acting funny, he was getting a baseball bat to the back of the head.

She grabbed her coffee and followed the man over to his table. He'd made himself at home already, his newspaper was spread out across the table, his briefcase was beneath the table, his fedora sat next to his cup of coffee. He took the chair against the wall while she took the one opposite.

He reached down and pulled a sheaf of papers out of his briefcase, "They are the shadow warriors, the unknown soldiers, the unsung heroes of our age. A bit dramatic, but I like the opening, the paper itself is quite good as well. Your facts are used well, your inferences are logical, and all in all, it's an interesting read, a very good paper. Your professor is an idiot for thinking otherwise."

That took Madison by surprise, "You've read my paper? I just turned that in yesterday. Who exactly are you?"

The man looked down at his newspaper, "Madison, you're a smart girl, I.Q. 190. So let's play a game, you tell me something about myself, and I'll answer one of your questions for every observation you make."

This man is going to be frustrating, but alright, Madison thought. "Let's play this game."

The man leaned back, obviously waiting. Madison looked at him again, this time looking at the details, not the face.

"I know that Robert Williams isn't your real name. I know you're associated with the government, most likely intelligence. I know you're former military, most likely special operations. And I'm assuming you're a friend of my father or mother."

The man looked impressed, "Entirely correct, the family connection is easy enough to make based on how I introduced myself. My military background, a bit more difficult, but I'm guessing you know how a military man carries himself. I'm curious as to how you know I work in intelligence, and how you knew the name was false."

Madison took a sip of her cappuccino. "Robert is the third most common first name in the United States, Williams is third most common last name. Not as obvious as John Smith, but still odd enough of a coincidence to notice. You suit is nice, too nice to be law enforcement, but not nice enough to be corporate, so government."

He crossed his arms, "There were plenty of other explanations for my suit, how does that lead you to intelligence work."

He's testing me, Madison realized, either that or he's just really irritating and likes to play games. "You have a paper I turned in yesterday, you probably have my car's phone tapped and possibly my home phone, and you have a tracker or a tail on my roommate. If you don't work for an intelligence agency, then I need to call my father and request a full security detail."

The smile was back, "You're everything I hoped for Madison."

"I believe that by the terms of the game, I get four questions." Four observations, four questions, though Madison had a lot more than that.

"Ask away."

"What's your name?"

"Christopher Payne."

"How do you know my father?" The name meant nothing to her

"We served together." Madison searched her memory again, she'd grown up with her dad's war buddies always around the house, hell it was how she met Emma. But this man didn't appear in any of her memories.

"You said that we'd met before, when?"

"You were about two at the time, so late 2049." That explained why she didn't remember the man.

"Why are you watching me?"

The man, Payne, looked at his watch, "Miss Delano is due in about two minutes, so if you want the answer to that question, give me a call. But please, keep this between us, enjoy the coffee Madison."

Payne placed his card on the table and walked out before Madison could get another word out. The card had the man's name, and a phone number, but no agency or company name.

"Hey Maddy, Hey Liam," Emma's voice rang through the café. She paused when she saw the look on Madison's face. "Mads, something wrong?"

Madison shook her head, whatever the hell just happened, it wasn't something to talk to Emma about, at least not yet.

"I'm fine Emma, just a nagging question I need to answer."

 **OK, now we're getting into the actual story. I'll admit, the first chapter was mainly just an introduction.**

 **So, tell me what you guys think.**

 **R &R people**


	3. Chapter 3

Madison sat out on her balcony, taking in the night air. She stared down at the telephone on the table next to her. The cautious part of her was telling her to call her father and confirm the man's story, or call that cop that Emma had been flirting with, what was his name… Valentine. But the other part of her brain told her that if he was who he seemed, he would disappear if she didn't do as he asked. She'd seen the type before, intelligence operatives and military officers flitted around her father like flies. Either they were old war buddies or they wanted RobCo to help with one of their projects. And this guy certainly seemed to check all the boxes.

Finally, she made her decision. She got up and went to her bedroom. Donning a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and a set of tennis shoes. She also picked up one more thing from her bedside table, the ten millimeter pistol that her father had taught her to use and given her, she loaded the pistol, made sure the safety was on, and tucked it into her sweatshirt's pouch.

Then she went to the phone, Emma was out for the evening with another one of her dates, so she didn't have to worry about her. She dialed the number on the card, it rang four times before someone answered.

"Williams and White, How may I direct your call?" A woman's voice came from the receiver, a young woman by the sound of it.

Madison cleared her throat, no going back now, "I'm calling for Christopher Payne."

There was a pause before the woman spoke again. "A car will stop in front of your building in five minutes, if you wish to continue, you will take the stairs down to the ground floor, you will be waiting out front when the car arrives. When it does, you will get in and tell the driver to take you to Lexington and Main." The line went dead immediately after she stopped speaking.

If she took the stairs at full speed, it would take her three minutes to get to the ground floor. She sprinted out of her apartment, grabbing her bomber jacket on her way out. She hit the stairwell and took the steps two at a time. When she hit the lobby, she forced herself to slow down and walk normally. She checked her watch, two minutes left. The doorman tipped his hat as she brushed past him.

The car pulled up at the exact moment the woman said, a black Corvega V8. She opened the rear passenger door and got in. The man was dressed in a suit and a black chauffeur hat. "Where to Ma'am?"

Madison was surprised by the calmness in her voice, "Lexington and Main."

The chauffeur's eyebrows arched, "Well, they're getting younger every year"

Madison was about to ask what he meant, but thought better of it. He'd either lie or say nothing. The ride passed in silence as the man drove them through the city. The windows were tinted, so she couldn't tell where they were going. She timed it with her watch, it took about forty minutes before the car came to a stop. Not long enough to get outside of the city, but still a decent distance. Unless, of course, they had driven around in circles for half an hour and they were just ten minutes away.

"We're here kid, good luck to you." He tipped his hat to Madison as she got out. The second she closed the door, he sped away. She was standing in front of a skyscraper. Williams and White was emblazoned in gilt letters across the sign in front of the building. Seeing no other obvious option, she walked inside. The inside was as you'd expect it to be for a profitable law firm, all black and white marble with a receptionist's desk in the middle.

An attractive young woman approached, "You must be Madison, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Patricia, if you'll just follow me, I'll take you to Mister Payne."

It was the same voice that she'd heard on the phone, "What is it with you people and the third most common names?"

The woman looked back at her for a moment, "I beg your pardon?"

"Payne used the name Robert William when I met him, third most common names in America. Patricia is the third most common female name in America." Madison thought she might be overplaying her hand, but what the hell, showing that she could see through bullshit had gotten her here, why stop now?

"Christopher told me that you were a smart one, here we are." They stopped in front of an elevator and Patricia pressed the call button.

"So what is your real name?" They stepped into the elevator. Patricia, because she didn't know what else to call her, pressed the first floor button, then the ninth floor button, then the fourth floor button, and finally the seventh floor button. The doors closed and the elevator began to descend.

"Let's hold off on proper introductions until after your meeting. Now, please stop asking me questions and I won't ask questions about that ten millimeter pistol that you have tucked in the pocket of your sweatshirt." Madison's expression must have betrayed more surprise than she thought because Patricia actually giggled. The rest of the ride passed in silence. There wasn't a floor counter in the elevator, but she could feel they were going down and considering how long it was taking, they were going pretty far down.

When the doors opened, she was taken aback. The huge room before her was a flurry of constant movement, the main source of light came from the screens that lined the walls, showing maps and timetables, one screen showed the DEFCON status. Dozens of desks held terminals and phones. Men and women darted around the room, some wearing office wear, others dressed in military uniforms. The vast majority of them were armed. She picked out snippets of conversation.

"Blackbird is go, I repeat, Operation Blackbird is a go."

"Top Hat just reported in, Beijing is code three."

"Someone get me the Burma reports, I need-"

"Someone tell the _Birmingham_ to pull back, Ahab just left port and he has thirteen shiny new harpoons."

"We need an exfiltration team for the Kiev network, the bridge agent-"

"Quite a sight isn't it?" Patricia smiled at Madison's expression

"Uh huh." Madison could only nod, that was an understatement.

"It never gets old, come on, Christopher will want to see you right away." Patricia grabbed her by the arm and guided her down a set of stairs, past a holographic war table that was surrounded by men in military dress uniforms, through a bullpen style set of desks, then down another set of stairs to a long hallway of offices. The frosted glass obscured the inside of the offices, but she could tell a few of them were currently occupied by the silhouettes inside.

They came to a stop in front of the door at the end of the hall. Patricia pressed a button on the intercom next to the door, "Christopher, Miss Victory has arrived."

There was an audible click and the door swung open revealing a small anteroom, Patricia motioned for her to step inside. After she did, the door immediately slammed shut behind her, the audible click telling her that the locks had reengaged.

"Well, that's encouraging." Madison put her hands in the pocket of her sweatshirt, getting a firm grip on her pistol.

She stepped through the anteroom toward the office door. The anteroom was fairly basic, wood paneling, two couches and coffee tables, but the walls were more interesting. There were spaces in the wood paneling that just slightly stood out. Madison would bet her trust fund that those panels would slide open and expose turrets at the press of a button. The door in front of her opened and out stepped a man in a white suit and tie with glasses and a thick mustache.

"Out of my way you twonk." The man shoved past her, Madison glared at his back as he left. When she turned back, Christopher Payne was standing in the door, clad in the same black suit that he'd been wearing at the coffee shop.

"Madison, I'm glad you came. Sorry about Desmond, he's the best Her Majesty has to offer, but he's a bit of a jackass. Please come in." He motioned for her to step into his office. The inside of the office was little different from her father's, minus the family photos and the million dollar view of New York. A large desk, a high end terminal, souvenirs from around the world spread around the room, a lot of military memorabilia mixing in with the souvenirs.

"Can I get you a drink? I have your favorite, Nuka Cola Victory. Or, if you want something more adult, I have a decent Bordeaux, and Desmond is a jackass, but he brings the best scotch in the world." Payne walked over to the wet bar in his office.

"A Nuka Cola Victory would be fine." Madison took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Now, please explain to me exactly what all of this is?"

Payne opened a bottle of Victory and handed it to her, "Well, that depends on who you ask. On what little official paperwork there is, and when I say little I mean in terms of government bureaucracy, so it's still a mountain, we are described as a specialized task group for the dissemination and coordination of various forms of intelligence from military and civilian agencies in order to secure and further the interests of the United States of America."

Madison took a long drink of the Nuka Cola. "So what is it actually?"

Payne poured himself a glass of scotch. "For once a government description is halfway accurate. We have access to the whole of the American intelligence apparatus. DIA, CIA, FBI, BADFTL, IRS, Secret Service, military intelligence divisions in every branch of the armed forces, even state and local police departments, we have access to it all. We do coordinate intel between agencies, but the description neglects mentioning the operations aspect of what we do."

"So, where do I fit in?" Madison felt like she had a good idea, but you could never be sure when it came to intelligence. Or at least, that's what her father used to tell her.

Payne sat down behind his desk, taking a long drink of his scotch. "I know a lot about you Madison, a lot more than just your favorite soda. I know that your father taught you how to use and maintain that ten millimeter in your sweatshirt, among various other firearms. I know he trained you in hand to hand combat to a black belt level. I know that the camping trips he took you on were closer to Green Beret survival training. I know that you're fluent in six languages, passable in three."

Madison leveled a get-to-the-point stare at him, did everyone know she was carrying a gun? "Are you going to list everything on my college resume? I won my third grade spelling bee too, while we're on the topic."

He grinned, "I know, and your fourth grade spelling bee, and the fifth, and the sixth, and so on. I know you completely reinvented yourself when you moved from New York and again when you moved from Vegas, changing your look and personality from an athlete in New York, to a party girl in Vegas, to a more bookish and scholarly shrinking violet here. You pretend to be shy, but you're not. To put it in the most basic set of terms, you have the potential to be one of the finest agents this agency has ever seen."

She downed the rest of her Victory. That was what she thought this was about. It was the only reason that they would have chained her along like this. "I have no espionage training."

Payne arched an eyebrow, "Yes, you do. As I said, your father fairly well took care of that for us, and you certainly seem to have a natural affinity for adapting to legends. I'm not going to force you into this Madison, you don't need an excuse. All you have to do is say no and you'll be taken back to your apartment as if nothing ever happened."

Once again, her mind went to war. The cautious part of her brain told her to say no, she was a college student, she was going to be a lawyer, why would she want to throw away all of that away. "I'm not willing to drop out of college."

"We wouldn't expect or want you to. You're position as a college student provides a built in cover for all sorts of assignments."

She searched her mind, but she couldn't find any other reason not to do this. The cautions part of her was still telling her to say no, but the other part of her kept asking the same question, why not? And right now, she couldn't find an answer to that question. "Alright, I guess I'm in. But I think I'll take that scotch now."

Payne laughed, "Certainly, then Patricia can brief you on your first assignment." He extended his hand over the desk to shake her hand.

"Madison, let me be the first to welcome you to The Activity."

 **Okay, now the story can really begin. I'm really kind of just playing around with this, trying to decide how I want to play this.**

 **I'm updating this in the eight minutes I have before my Leadership development class, I mention this to let you know that school has returned so I will probably be updating less frequently.**

 **As always, tell me what you think.**

 **R &R people, later.**


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of their meeting went very quickly, they shared a drink, then Payne said that he would brief her himself, but he had other appointments. A man in a military uniform guided her back up to the command center, then down another set of stairs to another hallway of what she assumed to be offices. They stopped at a door labelled 101.

"Your handler is inside, ma'am." The man snapped off a quick salute, then turned and marched back towards the command center. Madison took a deep breath, twisted the knob and pushed open the door. Inside was a spartan room, a bed, a dresser, a couch and coffee table, what appeared to be a weapons locker, a door leading off to a bathroom, and a desk with a terminal on it. Sitting on the bed was Patricia, she stood up when she saw Madison.

"Madison, I'm so glad that you decided to join. If half of what Christopher says is true, then I'm sure you'll be very successful." Patricia took her hand and shook it. "These are your quarters."

Madison looked around the room, "I have an apartment."

Patricia's smile widened, "We know, but assignments can run on a rather unpredictable schedule, so most field operatives have keep quarters here instead of offices. Trust me, when you get back from a field assignment at three in the morning, it's nice to just be able to collapse on a bed."

Madison doubted she'd use this room for that, but that was beside the point. "Payne said that you would brief me on my first assignment."

"Yes, I have the files right here." Patricia motioned towards the couch and coffee table.

"What is your name by the way," Madison asked as they found seats on the couch.

"Karen, that leads to another important point, but we'll cover that later. We'll get through the whole orientation briefing as the issues come up. Right now let's get you acquainted with your first operation." Karen opened one of the folders on the coffee table. In it was a stack of documents, at the top of which sat a photo of a young Asian woman with black hair and dark brown eyes.

"This is Xiu Ming, freshman at the Commonwealth Institute of Technology, and distantly related to the current Chinese ambassador to the United States. She lives off campus and spends her weekends at the Chinese consulate in New York. She spends most of her breaks in D.C. at the Chinese embassy." Madison listened while she perused the file. Ming was a computer engineering major, a member of a few clubs, but mostly kept to herself.

"She serves as unofficial tech support at the consulate and embassy, the Chinese are in desperate need of competent computer specialists. We chose her for your first assignment because as a freshman, she shares a number of your classes. Also because she's spending her break in Point Lookout, just as you are. Between her notable family connections with the upper levels of the Chinese government and military, and her access to the computer networks of the embassy and consulate." Ming was also apparently a dog lover, a fan of the Silver Shroud, her favorite movies and books were romances, and went jogging every morning. Other than the romance, it sounded like the dating profile that Emma had set up for her.

"So, I know I'm new at this, but I think this part is pretty important. What makes you think that she's going to betray her country?" Doing that is kind of a big deal, Madison thought, it's not something people just do.

"That comes to the third reason that we chose her as your first potential asset. As you know, heavy military requirements in the past several century have forced the U.S. to drop stigmas in many areas, such as race, religion, and gender. China, having a much larger population than the United States, and being much more reliant on repressive measures, has remained highly discriminatory in those areas. As well as the area most relevant in this case, sexual orientation."

And like that, it clicked in her head, "You realize that I'm not gay, right?"

Karen looked at her sympathetically, "Yes, it is your assignment, so you are free to take whatever avenue of approach you feel is best. But analysis shows that a honey pot approach has the highest probability of success."

For what felt like the millionth time that night, Madison took a deep breath, "Alright, I guess this is what I signed up for. How should I do this?"

Karen's grin returned, "It's your assignment, how do you want to play it?"

Sensing this was another test, Madison closed her eyes and thought for a moment. She pulled out the list of romance movies and books that Ming watched and read. They were all the same standard setup that appeared in so many romances, a woman rescued from dangerous circumstances by a handsome and dashing man.

Hmm, so she's a romantic, Madison checked the POV characters. Sure enough, most of them were told from the point of view of the dashing young hero. A romantic with a hero complex. An idea began to take form. She pulled the map of Ming's jogging route, it passed a small back alley. That could work.

"Alright, I think that I have a plan of approach.


	5. Chapter 5

**Operation Rebel Dragon: day one**

Xiu Ming pushed herself, listening to the steady rhythm of her feet hitting the pavement. She kept her breath to a seven count. She kept to her usual route, trying to dismiss the looks she got from some of the people on the street. The tensions between her old homeland and her new homeland were not lost on her. The embassy had sent her a memo suggesting that she transfer to a Chinese university. There were two problems with that.

The first problem was the fact that outside of the military, to which she was barred access, Chinese colleges were nowhere near on par with their American counterparts when it came to the field of computer technology. It was only her family's connections that managed to get her a student visa. And even that was a tenuous situation.

The other problem was far more complicated. Her family's high level status, the same status that allowed her to go to the Institute, was maintained in part by careful political alliances. The best way to secure these alliances was with a marriage between the younger generations of the families. This ensured a long term commitment and made it difficult for either side to break the alliance without a scandal. Thus, she had a fiancé-to-be waiting for her the second she returned to China. One that was most assuredly not of the gender to which her romantic feelings leaned towards.

There was one other problem, she liked America. China was beautiful, but it was just so… Ming couldn't think of how to describe it. There was so much that wasn't available, her family's status meant she was always forced to be a living propaganda machine when in public. She was sure that she would have to throw away any hope of a career in favor of being a devoted wife, her education would just be a certificate on the wall, a conversation piece for parties.

She was pondering this troublesome triumvirate when she heard the screaming, an ear piercing wail of distress. Her jog turned into a sprint as the sound led her to an alleyway in front of her, where she found two men dressed in black and wearing balaclavas. They were holding down a young woman dressed in jogging clothes similar to Ming's own. Considering the rushed attempts of the two men to rip the clothing off of her, it didn't take a genius to tell they were trying to rape the poor girl.

Ming rushed up behind the pair and delivered a hard strike to one man's kidney, and a strong round house kick into the other man's ribcage. Being a part of a high profile family in China, Ming had been trained in self-defense from an early age. The men seemed to reconsider their situation very quickly, her presence making the risk no longer worth the reward. They fled the scene, sprinting down the opposite end of the alley way and out of view.

She turned her focus on the young woman. "Are you alright," she asked. The moment she said it, she regretted it. Of course she wasn't alright, two men had just tried to rape her in an alley. What an incredibly stupid thing to ask. Ming mentally smacked herself.

The young woman didn't react with anger though. She was apparently still coming down from the shock. She was breathing rapidly, quick, short, breaths that were slowly falling back to a normal rate. "I… I think I'm okay." She attempted to get up, but stumbled and would have fallen if Ming hadn't been there to catch her.

"I'm Xiu Ming, we need to get you to a hospital." Ming began leading the girl out of the alley.

The young woman slumped against Ming and looked up at her.

"My name is Madison Victory, you have no idea how happy I am to meet you."

…..

 **Operation Rebel Dragon: Day 21**

Madison sat in her quarters at the Activity's headquarters, awaiting Christopher Payne. The operation had proceeded exactly as planned. To her surprise, Madison found the life of a covert operative to be fairly boring. Other than adding Ming to her inner circle and the regular meetings with Karen, her life and daily routine hadn't changed much. To her surprise, she and Ming had been fast friends. Of course it helped that Madison had been briefed on everything that Ming liked and everything she looked for in a woman, but they did legitimately have a few things in common.

She'd expected that faking the aftermath of a rape would be difficult, but Karen had helped her with that. Initial relief, followed by insisted on privacy in her hospital room with her 'grief counselor', actually Karen, during which her friends were under the impression that she was a raving mess. Afterwards, she just returned to her normal routine, with Karen telling her friends, now including Ming, that she was seeking solace in the familiar and it was an important part of the recovery process.

After that, it had been simple. Just go about business as usual and develop the relationship with Ming. She spent four days in the hospital, and three days after getting out, they went on their first date. It had been a simple affair, a could-be-a-date-could-be-hanging-out sort of thing when they went to a lecture by a professor visiting the Institute over break who was apparently from a place called Big Mountain. He seemed incredibly intelligent, but also slightly crazy, talking about advanced robotics and it's impact on the geopolitical landscape of the world, while also constantly connecting it to something called a robo-scorpion.

After that they started jogging together every morning, under the pretense that Madison no longer felt safe doing it alone. Then Ming started joining Emma and Madison's meet ups at the coffee shop. Their second real date was five days after their first. An actual, no room for doubt, date. They went to the theater and saw a performance of The God of Vengeance. They spent the entire walk back to Madison's apartment joking about the old play. The truly memorable part of the evening had been at the end. They'd stood outside Madison's apartment awkwardly for a couple of minutes, Ming unsure whether or not to just leave, Madison unsure whether to invite her in. Then Ming had surprised her, closing the foot between them, wrapping her arms around Madison and planting a kiss on her lips.

Madison had been too surprised to react for a moment, then her mind caught up and she returned the kiss. It was a slow, gentle, tentative kiss. When it was over, they were both nervous, and they bid each other a flustered goodbye. The first thing Madison had done was gush about the date to Emma. Then the logical part of her mind kicked in and reminded her the reason why she was in a whirlwind romance with Ming. So she picked up the phone and dialed the secure line to inform the Activity of her progress.

Their third official date had been more relaxed. Now that they were both certain of the nature of their relationship, things were easier, less flustered. It was the quintessential date, dinner and a movie. After a very nice dinner at one of the upscale Boston restaurants, and one of the new war movies that Hollywood kept putting out. All of that was nice, but what happened when they'd gotten back to Madison's apartment was amazing.

Emma had been out with one boy or another, so she invited Ming in. They popped a bottle of wine and spent an hour or so drinking and talking. Then, when they were good and tipsy, things kind of started getting a little blurry, one thing led to another and then they were making out. Hands slipped under shirts, clothes were peeled off, and two hours later they were laying naked and panting on the plush carpet in front of Madison's fireplace.

That had been two days ago. Last night, they'd spent the evening in, deciding to have a movie night. They made it halfway through the second movie before their clothes came off. The first time had been wild, passionate, but at the same time nervous and tentative, neither of them sure if the other was as into it as they were. This time confirmed it, this time was slower, they were feeling each other out, figuring out what each of them liked and disliked, experimenting. They were officially a couple.

Or that was the legend, Madison told herself. Bullshit, the honest part of her said. She was head over heels for the girl, no question about it. And that wasn't a problem, was it? "So much for not being gay," she said to the empty room.

Her introspection was interrupted when Christopher Payne and Karen, who she still didn't know the last name of and doubted she ever would. Payne wore one his usual gray suits. Karen wore her usual ensemble of a low cut blouse with an insanely short skirt, straddling the line between slutty and professional. "Madison, I apologize for making you wait, but I was my meeting with SecDef ran long."

"It's no problem."

"Good, Karen tells me that phase one of the operation has been a complete success, congratulations."

Madison couldn't hide the blush on her face, someone congratulating her for seducing someone would definitely take some getting used to. "Thank you," she said.

Karen laid a folder on the coffee table. "Now that you've established a personal relationship with Xiu Ming, we can move to the actual process of making her an asset."

"Now that phase one of your first operation is done, we will be referring to you under a codename for all future operational proceedings."

What's the codename?" Madison had gotten some really stupid nicknames in her life. Not out of any outright malice aimed at her, she just had bad luck in that regard. She really hoped that this wouldn't be another.

"From now on, as far as the Activity is concerned, your name is Charmer."

 **And thus a covert career is born. I'm honestly pretty anxious to drop the bombs, but that's still a ways off. I wrote this to alleviate some writers block on the next Dominance chapter.**

 **R &R people.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay guys, anyone checking this out who's familiar with my other work knows that, at this point, if it's one of my stories, it's not a matter of IF someone is going to get tied up and spanked, it's a matter of WHEN.**

 **But still, to cover my ass, Lesbian BDSM content ahead, if you are offended by this, kindly go somewhere else.**

 **Operation Rebel Dragon Phase Two: Day 3**

"One."

SMACK!

"Two."

SMACK!

"Three."

SMACK!

"Five."

SMACK!

"Wait, did I miss four?" Yes, Madison thought, you did, and I know you did it on purpose so you could do what you are about to.

"I guess I'll just have to start over. Ah well." Evil woman, Madison thought as she chewed on her gag. True to her word, Ming started from one again, then added one more to "end it on a nice even number."

Evil, evil, evil woman, Madison thought again.

Ming put the paddle back into, what Madison had nicknamed, "her bag of dirty tricks" and retrieved a jar filled with a soothing balm. She slowly pulled the black tape off of Madison's mouth and began untying her.

Madison pushed her underwear out of her mouth with her tongue. "You are a cruel, cruel, mistress."

Ming kissed the top of her head and grinned, "And you love every bit of me for it."

"The burning I'm feeling right now would beg to differ." Madison yelped as she felt the sting of Ming's palm across her rear.

"It's not my fault you're naughty, now be a good girl or I'll leave you tied up until Emma finds you." Madison bit her bottom lip to keep from giggling, and then let out a small moan as Ming massaged the ointment into her skin. "So, this is as good a time to bring it up as any to mention this, you know the Point Lookout trip?"

Madison purred as Ming moved up to her back, she had no idea where Ming learned this stuff, "I'm interested to know what you have to say about our trip that's best to mention when you're rubbing ointment into my butt." Madison let out another yelp as Ming pinched her bottom, "what was that for?"

Ming giggled, "I warned you to be a good girl."

Madison giggled too, "Yes mistress."

The smile fell from Madison's face when she saw Ming's expression turn serious. Madison rolled onto her side, wincing slightly as her sore spots touched the bed. "Babe, what's wrong?" Ming suddenly looked pensive, "Come on, you know you can tell me anything."

Her girlfriend, asset her inner agent said, wiped her hands with a handkerchief and looked away. "Well, apparently the Calverts are throwing a ball and the Chinese ambassador is invited, and because he's my great uncle, I have to go as well."

Madison arched her eyebrow, there had to be more than that. "I didn't plan on any formal events for this vacation, and the Calverts are annoying as all get out, but what the hell. I'll talk to Emma and have her make up something so I can dazzle them." Perks of having a future fashion designer as a roommate.

Ming kept her gaze fixed firmly on the bed. "My fiancé is going to be there."

That made Madison pause. Her briefing had mentioned this, the fiancé's name was Chao Ji, the second son of another powerful family in China. From what the intelligence reports said, he shared the same issue Ming had. He was gay, and it was not okay to be gay in China. Apparently the marriage was a two birds, one stone scenario. It would cement the families' political alliance, while also securely hiding their sexuality. "Okay" she said slowly.

"He's a good person, we've been friends since we were kids. Our parents are the ones that set the whole thing up. We like each other, but not in the… I mean we don't…" Ming couldn't seem to decide how she wanted to say it. Madison saved her the trouble.

"You like him, but you don't want to tie him up, screw his brains out, dominate him entirely, spank him, massage him, or do any of the things you spent the past three hours doing to me with him."

The ghost of a smile played across Ming's face, "Yeah pretty much."

Madison absentmindedly played with her hair, "So, do you not want me to go with you to the party?"

Ming looked away again for a second. "Yeah, I think it…" she began, then paused. Her gaze went back to Madison, determination burning in her eyes. "You know what, no, I definitely want you to come. She dropped to all fours on the bed and crawled on top of Madison, putting her hands on Madison's shoulders and pushing her all the way on to her back, pinning her to the bed. Madison winced slightly at being forced onto her stinging bottom. Ming's face was inches from Madison's, her black hair hanging down, blocking out the rest of the world, leaving only the two of them. "I have three years before I have to go back to China. Until then, I'm my own woman, I have a beautiful, funny, intelligent girlfriend, and I am going to show you off, and if anyone in the politiburo has a problem with it, they can go fuck themselves."

Then she fell Madison like a predator pouncing on her prey, kissing her fiercely. They continued like that for a few moments, or it might have been a few hours, something about kissing Ming made the rest of time and space just fade into oblivion. Finally Ming pulled away and they just laid there, bodies entangled, staring at the ceiling. Madison turned her head towards Ming and smiled again, "Besides, it's just one night, we have two weeks to spend in Point Lookout, and a weeklong cruise to get there."

Ming pulled Madison tight against her body, showing off that tiger grin of hers again. "A weeklong cruise you will be spending in your collar, at my mercy," she whispered into Madison's ear, nipping it with her teeth, and giving the back of the leather collar around Madison's neck a gentle tug.

"I wouldn't have it any other way mistress." Madison said, giggling again.

….

 **Operation Rebel Dragon Phase Two: Day 14**

Stepping off the boat, Madison took in Point Lookout for the first time. It was a nice enough place, a bit ominous with the cloudy sky, but still nice. Their group consisted of Ming, Emma, Emma's cop friend Nick, and Madison herself. Madison liked Nick, but he seemed a bit out of place with their group, and that sent up a lot of red flags. He was four years older than any of them, he already graduated college, he wasn't from a wealthy or influential family, and he was openly carrying a revolver. All of that made sense considering he was a detective, but something about him seemed… off.

Says the one who's second stop on this vacation is to the DIA office in the Naval recruiting center, her sense of hypocrisy said. Madison shook her head. She shouldn't throw stones in glass houses, except considering her newfound career, suspicion was probably her friend. Their first stop was the hotel, to get unpacked and changed. While Ming showered, Madison ran over to the Naval recruiting center. She was supposed to ask the receptionist for directions to the Ark and Dove Church, the receptionist would then ask if she was going to see the beautiful stained glass windows, Madison would respond by saying that she'd heard about the windows but the altarpiece was the real treasure. It was phrase and counter phrase, basic tradecraft.

The exchange went exactly as planned and the receptionist produced a folded up with all the major landmarks of the area circled. Also in the folded up map, a small holotape containing her instructions. She slipped back into her hotel room and dug her Pip Boy out of her suit case and slipped it on. Her father had always made sure that when it came to computers, she always had the cutting edge stuff. The tech people at the Activity had modified hers with a number of classified components and software programs. On the surface, it appeared the same, but the right sequence would open up a number of special features. One of those being the ability to decrypt heavily encrypted holotapes.

She input the sequence, then put the tape in the player. After a minute, the text appeared.

 _Operative Charmer,_

 _Your mission is as follows,_

 _Primary Mission: Successfully turn Rebel Dragon into a productive intelligence asset before returning._

 _Secondary Mission, uncover Chinese asset designated Third Claw._

 _Tertiary Mission, meet with asset designated Red Bear at Prom Night, sign and countersign included below._

 _Specific instructions on all missions below._

Prom night was the designation assigned the Calvert Ball. Third Claw was a suspected asset in the staff of one of the Calvert family politicians. The Calverts were a lot like Emma's family, old money, a couple ancestral manors, political power out the ass, basically the American equivalent of landed gentry. They flocked around Madison's father, looking to tie RobCo into their own business dealings. However, Emma's family were actual friends, Madison's father and Emma's had served together, their families were close and Emma's family weren't snobs. The Calverts were ultra-snobs who treated the Victorys like they were beneath them, when they went to Madison's father, they didn't ask him for things, they expected them. When their children came along, Dear god…. one of them actually told Madison that her nouveau riche ass wasn't fit to hold their piss bucket.

After that occasion, the Calverts were no longer in the good books of RobCo, Madison's father had made sure of that. And they still had to kiss up to the Victorys because RobCo could cause the stock market to boom or bust and RobCo political action groups could make or break political careers, and Madison's father was the man who held the leash of RobCo. The Victorys were above the Calverts in the food chain economically, politically, and thanks to Emma's family, socially.

Madison ran a hard data wipe on the holotape and replaced it with a game, then she tucked it in her suitcase just as Ming stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her waist. She was beautiful, no question of that. Madison had decided that she would make her pitch after the Calvert Ball, the Fiancé would make it easier, he was a living symbol of how China wanted to oppress her. Madison was fairly certain that Ming was in love with her, their whirlwind romance was engineered specifically for that purpose. And because of that, she was as certain as she could possibly be that Ming would betray China for her.

The problem with whirlwinds is that they tend to pull things in that you don't intend for them to pull in. And this was no different. Madison was fairly certain Ming was in love with her, she was absolutely certain that she was in love with Ming. There was something about her, actually there were a lot of somethings. Ming was beautiful. She was intelligent, she would go on and on about algorithms and data structures, she was the only person who Madison had ever met who could speak and Madison have no idea what the hell she was talking about, and that was oddly hot for some reason. Ming was fun to be around, and she didn't have any agenda to push at Madison's father through her.

And then there was the sex.

Ming had a sexual appetite on par of Aphrodite, and much to the surprise of both of them, she had awakened a sexual appetite of similar proportions in Madison. She hadn't been a virgin before meeting Ming, but that was different. All of her one night stands had been simple, biologically motivated, sex, no feelings, no passion, just mechanical interaction to satisfy biological and hormonal needs. And afterward, she always immediately got up, pulled on her clothes, picked up her things, and walked out. Sex with Ming, sex with Ming was to that what a nuclear detonation was to a firecracker. It was wild, it was intense, and every time they got a moment alone, they started tearing each other's clothes off. And when it was over, Ming undid her bonds, massaged her sore spots, and then they collapsed into what was quite probably the best sleep Madison ever had.

Yes, she was certain she could turn Ming, and yes, she was certain that she was in love with Ming.

So that raised the important question.

What was going to happen when the operation was over and Madison was supposed to move on?


	7. Chapter 7

**Operation Rebel Dragon Phase Two: Day 16**

 **Ming P.O.V.**

"Miss Xiu Ming, grandniece of Ambassador Xiu Ling, accompanied by Miss Madison Victory, daughter of Alexander Victory, Chief Operations Officer of RobCo industries."

Madison gently elbowed Ming, "The Calverts really like pretending it's still the 1700's, don't they?"

Ming stifled a giggle as they stepped through the main entryway into the ballroom. "Miss Emma Delano, Daughter of Senator Michael Delano, accompanied by her date, Nicholas Valentine, Roving Detective of the Federal Bureau of Investigation." The announcer, or herald, or whatever he was called yelled as their other companions followed them in.

Ming had grown up hearing about the decadence and debauchery of America. Eventually, of course, she realized this was hypocritical bullshit. Her own family lived in wealth and splendor, in a gated compound, guarded by an elite military unit. She'd believed all of the lies about how they served roles as guides and leaders to the people when she was told growing up, then she saw the slums and the people who worked themselves to death in the worst possible conditions. Then she'd come to America and realized that communism was no different than capitalism, just different methods of measuring prestige.

It was easier to believe all of the decadence and debauchery looking out on the ballroom. Twelve senators, sixteen House Representatives, three governors, the Secretary of State, Twenty high ranking party members from China, the CEOs of two major corporations, their wives, and other less distinguished guests. If someone were to add up the net worth of all of the dresses, suits, and jewelry in the room, it would be enough to feed the entire continent of Africa for a week. They mingled for a little bit, a few senators tried to talk to Madison about various issues they wanted RobCo support on, but they were all easily beaten back by Ming. As it turned out, a right wing conservative could rather easily be cowed by a nineteen year old, six foot two inch, Wing Chun trained, Chinese girl.

"I'll have to remember to keep you close at these sort of things. Usually they last at least twenty minutes, you make a good guard dog." Madison handed her a glass of sparkling cider.

Ming grinned, "I'm not the one in this relationship who wears a collar."

Madison punched her in the arm, and then they hit the rough seas.

"Xiaomao, it is good to see you again." Ming turned to see her great uncle striding towards them, entourage in tow.

She bowed, "Great uncle."

The ambassador laid a hand on Ming's shoulder and laughed. "Xiaomao my dear, we are in America, surrounded by Americans. What is their saying, when in Athens, do as the Athenians do?" He laughed again.

Ming knew her great uncle, he had been her etiquette teacher when she was a child. He'd doted on Ming while she was growing up, but she'd been an excellent pupil, he had been as harsh in dealing punishments to his less gifted students as he was liberal with giving rewards to her. She knew he wasn't evil, but beneath his kind grandfatherly demeanor lay a cunning and ruthless political mastermind. He would do anything to preserve the family and you didn't make it as far as he had in the Party without slitting a few throats.

"It's Romans, when in Rome, do as the Romans do." Ming wanted to grab Madison and flee the room. She knew it was about to come up, and once it was brought up… this whole thing was going to hell.

Then it didn't. Her great uncle turned to Madison and said, "And you must be Madison Victory, please pass on my regards to your father." He extended his hand.

Madison accepted, "You know, Mister Ambassador, most politicians follow that up with some cause that they want me to pitch to my father."

Xiu Ling smiled, it went to his eyes, but Ming knew it was a façade. That was one of his best assets when it came to manipulation, he had a charming and disarming smile that always seemed perfectly genuine. "I've served as ambassador to your wonderful nation for over a decade and your ways still confound me. In China, if you wish to discuss business with a man, you sit down with him face to face and discuss things like civilized men. You don't pester his daughter in her private life."

Madison smiled back, "It seems like America could learn a thing or two from China in that regard."

Ming watched all this like a spectator watching a lion circle a Christian in the Roman coliseum. She knew Madison to be intelligent, competent, and witty, but she was sure her great uncle would eat her alive if he so chose.

"Miss Victory, Madison, may I call you Madison?" she nodded, and the ambassador continued, "Madison, you must come to China someday, it is the most beautiful country you will ever see."

"I would love to someday, but I'm afraid college doesn't leave a lot of time for international travel." Ming knew what she really meant was, I'm not stupid enough to let myself be taken hostage by the Chinese government.

The ambassador knew it as well, but he didn't show it. "Yes, I still remember my time at University. Someday though, you must visit, perhaps when you and Ming go on your… what is it you Americans call it, ah yes, honeymoon."

"Uncle!" Ming couldn't contain her shock.

The ambassador chuckled as he turned to his niece. "Come now Xiaomao, my sight may be leaving me, but I still hear things. Some of my staff are ardent followers of certain magazines, I believe you call them… gossip rags. They show me these things, and according to them, you and Madison make quite the young couple."

Madison recovered her composure before Ming. "Ming and I are together, but we're not currently engaged."

"Of course not, of course not," the ambassador said, his smile growing wider. "I apologize if I have embarrassed you, allow an old man his delusions, I have looked forward to my Xiaomao finding someone since she was a child."

"I was under the impression that relationships such as the one Ming and I have aren't exactly approved of in China."

Xiu Ling brushed the comment away with a wave of his hand. "Archaic traditionalists who refuse to accept that the world is moving forward. Idiots who cling to the very principles our War of Liberation sought to overturn. You Americans have similar people in your government, I believe you call them Evangelical republicans. But just as in America, the radicals' obstructive influence diminishes by the day."

One of the ambassador's entourage, a young man in a well tailored suit, slid into place next to Xiu Ling with the fluidity of a practiced aid and leaned in to whisper in his ear. The ambassador appeared to listen for a moment then nodded. He returned his gaze to Madison, "I apologize Madison, but we will have to continue our conversation some other time, it appears that two of the senators Calvert need to speak with me about agricultural imports."

All lies, of course, even the aide was part of the illusion. Xiu Ling was a classically trained composer in his spare time, and that style bled into every aspect of his life. He had the entire ball planned like a concerto, down to the last note. And the bullshit about China, he was playing Madison like a well tuned violin. Madison was smart, but right now, she was a novice in a game she didn't understand, going up against a grand master

Then before Madison could respond, he turned to Ming, "I almost forgot to mention, your cousin Yang is visiting as an observer with the delegation, I'm sure she'd love to speak with you. I believe she's in the next room." He looked back, "You don't mind if we steal her for a moment, do you Madison?"

Madison looked at Ming, an excuse probably ready on her lips, but Ming shook her head. This wasn't the kind of meeting you turned down. "No problem at all, I'll just go find Emma and we can find each other after you talk to your cousin."

Ming lost sight of her in the crowd. Her great uncle split away with most of his entourage as well, but one of his aides remained. He silently led her out of the main ballroom through a few hallways until they reached what could best be described as the main dining room, but didn't come in with her. It was going unused tonight, this wasn't a dinner party, just drinks and dancing and canapes, but it still had one occupant.

She wasn't her cousin, but they'd known each other since they were children. She was dressed in an attempt at a stylized garment that was halfway between a traditional kimono and a prom dress. Ming could read the vanity in Her eyes, all the frills and puffs mixed with the golden embroidery, it was probably the most expensive thing She'd ever worn. And She probably didn't even realize how hideous it looked.

It was gaudy and ostentatious, not tailored at all to her figure, the materials also looked cheap. It seemed even worse in comparison to the simple elegance of the Audrey Hepburn style outfit Emma had come up with for Ming, a little black dress with a diamond necklace and matching hairpin. Ming knew she was being vein and catty, but something about Her always brought that out that part of Ming.

Wan Yang looked upon her with equal disdain, "I see you've been appropriately corrupted by the decadence and debauchery of the west. I hope those baubles haven't made you completely lose sight of your loyalty to your homeland."

Ming maintained a neutral expression, years of training and etiquette lessons coming into play. She kept her voice level as she replied in mandarin "Operatives in the field have to fit in, not all of us have someone to rescue them after their cover is blown like you did."

Yang's sneer turned into a scowl, "That operation was a masterstroke of brilliance, I devised every step to perfection. If you had simply planted an actual bomb in the elementary school instead of calling in a threat, then the police would have distracted long enough for a clean extraction."

Ming held her ground, she knew Yang was trying to rattle her. "The Department certainly seemed to find my version more palatable, yours would have started a war."

Yang bared gritted teeth, "You speak as if bringing the western dogs to heel would be a bad thing, it's those like you who weaken our glorious republic, filthy, indecisive, western dog loving… moderates. Or is it merely that you have forgotten your loyalty, in your early retirement?" She spoke the last words like she was spewing cobra venom.

Ming's tolerance for this meeting was growing shorter by the minute. "I have said it before, and the Department agrees, it is too dangerous now that I am in college, the Americans keep a much stronger eye on their college students than their boarding school students. And perhaps if you were more moderate, you would be able to perform successful operations. Now if this meeting has no point, then I have far more important matters to attend to." She put a subtle emphasis on the word successful, knowing her colleague's track record was a sore spot.

To Ming's surprise, Yang grinned. A savage grin that would have been predatory if Ming felt any fear for Yang. "It is those matters that we must discuss. For once, your disgusting perversions can be put to use for the service of the Republic. You have been fucking the bitch daughter of the de facto leader of RobCo."

It took every ounce of self control Ming had not to murder Yang where she stood, a feat made harder by the knowledge that if she so chose, it wouldn't be that difficult of a task. Somehow, she found the will power to contain her anger keep her neutral mask.

"The Department wishes me to turn her into an asset."

Yang shook her head. "No, our superiors have decided that would be too risky, watch her, listen to her, try to pry as much information from her as possible without letting her know your intent. You are no longer to return to China when your time at the Institute is over, you are to stay as long as your relationship with the girl continues."

So they wanted her to spy on Madison, "and Ji?"

Yang seemed to particularly relish telling her this bit of information. "I'm afraid he did not wish to play his part. When the Department informed his family that marrying you was no longer an option, he refused the new wife his family chose for him and threatened to press the issue. Our only option was to have him eliminated."

In that second, the entire affair played through Ming's head. She would start with a hard strike to Yang's jaw to disorient her, follow it up with a hard sidekick into the side of her knee to incapacitate her, then a knee to the face, an axe kick to bring her to the floor, then it would merely be a matter of pressing her stiletto heel on Yang's carotid artery until there was no longer a heartbeat.

Ji was dead. Ji, sweet, innocent Ji was dead. Ji, who insisted on putting milk out for the stray cats in the neighborhood. Ji, who would catch and release rather than kill a spider. Ji, who had been her only real friend for so many years. Ji, who'd been the only one who had truly understood the way she felt. Ji, who had no part in the world that Yang and Ming had volunteered for.

Ji was dead.

And they'd killed him.

In that moment, Ming made a decision. China was no longer worthy of her service or of her loyalty, if it had ever been. She would not spy on Madison for them. She would not do their bidding. She wanted to scream it in her face as she watched the life leave Yang's eyes, but she knew that wasn't the best way to hurt them. The best way she could hurt them would be to act without them knowing.

So she hid her fury behind her placid mask, "Alright, if that's all, then I believe we have nothing else to discuss, goodbye Yang."

And with that, she turned and headed back to the ballroom, a plan for Ji's vengeance forming with every step.

The first thing she needed to do was tell Madison everything.

She just hoped that telling the truth wouldn't cost her the love of her life.

 **This is the first half of a pretty important chapter. A few big things revealed about Ming this chapter, but the big reveal is still a chapter away.**

 **So tell me what you think? Good? Bad? In between? Give me your opinions people.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Standard Cover My Ass Warning: There will be some sexual content, Prudes beware.**

 **Operation Rebel Dragon Phase Two: Day 16**

 **Madison P.O.V.**

Madison slipped away from where Ming, Ambassador Xiu Ling, and herself had been speaking. She quickly slipped into the largest group of people she could find, she wanted to get out of the ambassador's sight. Everything about him screamed predator, and everything he'd said was obviously bullshit. Then there was the fact that he hadn't brought up Ming's fiancé, who was supposed to be here. That left a number of logical conclusions, and none of them were all that good.

Once she knew that she had completely vanished into the crowds, she changed tacks. She had to keep her mind on business, and that meant finding Red Bear. The Ming situation could be handled later. Now she had to handle her tertiary mission and find her contact. She bumped into a young man around her age in a well cut suit. "Pardon me," she said, stepping around him.

He grabbed her arm, "No problem, but I would be remiss to pass up a chance to dance with a beautiful woman such as yourself." His English was lightly accented, not entirely Russian, but definitely something Eastern European.

She was just about to twist her arm out of his grasp when he spoke again. "Perhaps I could get you a drink instead, would you prefer champagne or vodka?" It was the sign.

"No thank you, I prefer a good scotch." She responded with the countersign.

"Ahh, you are a charmer aren't you? Now, how about that dance?" She allowed him to lead her on to the dance floor. He took the lead as the waltz began to play.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Charmer." He spoke in a whisper as they went through the steps.

"Same to you Red Bear." He grimaced ever so slightly, showing barely perceptible distaste as if she'd stepped on his foot.

"You Americans always give us horrible names. It's probably why things have taken so long to thaw between us." His easy going smile returned when Madison giggled slightly. "I much prefer my side's designation for me, in your language it translates to…" He paused, she was certain for drama.

"Avenger."

She had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing. "You're not exactly what I was expecting out of a Russian spy."

The song changed as the waltz ended. The beat quickened as the tango began. "And who says I'm Russian."

He spun her and brought her close again. "Everything, from your code name to your accent. The only thing I'm not sure of is whether your one of ours or one of theirs."

He dipped her, "Clever girl, don't let it go to your head though, we're all clever in this business."

Their verbal jabs ceased as the dance drew to an end. He took her hand and kissed it, pressing a microholotape into her palm as he did so. "A pleasure dancing with you Madison, I look forward to getting to know you properly soon." Then in a quieter voice, "I included the identity of Third Claw, so you can focus on the ever delightful Xiu Ming for the rest of the evening, considering who she's meeting, you'll need to."

"Das vadanya," before she could ask him anything further, he'd disappeared into the crowd. She hated when people used her own tricks against her.

With her primary mission for the evening done, Madison wandered aimlessly around the ballroom. She'd never been a fan of these sort of events. It was all too fake, but then again, she was in the business of falsehoods and facades now. But there was something more… funnily enough, the best way that she could describe it was honest. There was something about covert operations that seemed more honest than politics. Masks and falsehoods seemed more called for when you were doing it for your nation, rather than yourself.

Without Ming at her side to be intimidating, the senators started circling like sharks again. Madison was good at dealing with them, it helped that in a sense, she outranked them. The American government wasn't owned by the American people, it was an open secret. What everyone denied, but was actually true, was that America itself wasn't owned by the American people. The United States of America, government, territory, and even people, were owned by roughly ten ultra-powerful mega corporations.

America was no longer a democracy, and it hadn't been for a long time. It was an aristocracy, and Madison was under no illusions that she and almost everyone she spent time with were members. That was probably why she really hated these things. They made her think like this. They reminded her of how fake her own down to earth routine was when she talked to people like Liam or Nick.

Emma was right at home as the belle of the ball. It was probably genetic, her father was the same way. Her low cut scarlet dress and supermodel body were enough to attract every man in the room, and her intelligent and seductive personality was enough to keep them in her orbit. Nick seemed less a companion, more a bodyguard beating back the more forward of her admirers. Madison loved her roommate, but she couldn't deal with those currently in her orbit. Madison always wondered why someone who was born for politics would pursue fashion.

Of course then she'd look down at the elegant white gown that Emma had designed and made for her, a contrast to Ming's dress, and remembered just how good her friend was at her chosen trade. So she returned to her wandering. She caught sight of the ambassador, surrounded by his coterie of party members, and her mind went back to their encounter. He'd been bullshitting her, but the question was why. He was obviously trying to make China look as good as possible. Technically his job, but he wasn't taking the usual shots at America that he usually did. And then there was the whole thing with Ming's fiancé suddenly out of the picture.

Her own ruminations were interrupted by the sight of Ming striding across the ballroom. She grabbed Madison by the wrist without a word, a saucy grin on her face, and pulled her into a dark corner of the room away from the crowds. Ming pushed her against the wall and kissed her way up Madison's neck and nipped her ear.

"I need to talk to you about something very important, but they're watching me right now." Ming whispered in her ear.

Madison kept a look of aroused amusement on her face as she pressed her hands against the wall to steady herself, but her eyes darted around the room. Sure enough, there were at least six members of the Chinese delegation keeping a nonchalant eye on them, including a woman in an idiotic looking dress who hadn't been there before. Madison assumed her to be the cousin, if she really was one, that Ming had left the room to speak to. "I see them."

"I've been an agent of the Chinese government since coming to this country when I was fourteen. I've been inactive since graduating high school. The reason my uncle is suddenly so accepting of our relationship is because they want me to spy on you to get economic and industrial intelligence on RobCo." She ran her hands over Madison's body, hitting all of the spots that their watchers would expect her to.

Madison was shocked, but she couldn't decide whether she was supposed to show it or not. Either the Activity hadn't known about Ming being a Chinese Intelligence operative, or they hadn't informed her. Ming would expect her to be shocked, but their watchers wouldn't. She settled on letting her mouth form a small O, something that Ming quickly smothered with a forceful kiss. Forceful kissing was nothing new in their relationship, force was a central factor in their sex, but this was awkward. It was mechanical, not the usual act of passion, just Ming using her tongue to gag Madison.

Ming pulled away from the kiss. "I'm sorry I never told you I was an agent, but I promise you that it has nothing to do with our relationship. The woman I just met with was the first one to bring up spying on you to me."

Red Bear, Avenger's words played again in her head, _Considering who she's meeting, you'll need to._ He'd known who she was meeting. Russian intelligence was apparently well aware of the fact that her girlfriend was a Chinese spy. Either the Activity needed to push harder to pierce Chinese intelligence more thoroughly, or they hadn't read Madison in on a very important fact. In either case, it made her job a lot easier.

Sure, she probably should feel a sense of distrust, but considering they'd built their relationship off of a couple of well manufactured lies from the intelligence agency that she worked for, it would be hypocritical. But in the end, what difference did it make, they were spies for their respective nations, so what? They were in love with each other, and in the end, that was what mattered. Besides, it was even good for her career, a Chinese double agent, that was one hell of a catch for her first time out.

"Madison, I love you, please, please answer me." The grin stayed affixed, but there was desperation in her eyes.

Madison looked her in the eye, "Ming, you are the love of my life and nothing will ever change that."

Relief surged into Ming's gaze. "Thank you," She kissed Madison again, but unlike the last one, this one was real. There it was, the passion, the love, it was a nuclear explosion just between the two of them. Pulling away, her expression was apologetic, "Also, I'm incredibly sorry if this embarrasses you, but they're watching, and this needs to look unquestionably real." Then, before Madison could ask her what she meant, her hand slipped under Madison's dress.

For most, these would be far from ideal conditions. Many women had trouble under the perfect conditions, but for Madison, she always hit it without too much effort. She wasn't too keen about doing it in public, especially with an audience of six or more attentive viewers. But, such was the life of a covert operative, what was a little humiliation to keep the Chinese in the dark. Within a few deft movements of Ming's fingers, Madison's hips were jerking along to the rhythm Ming set. Whatever the circumstances, it amounted to the same thing, when Ming told her to, she did.

It didn't take too much, a few minutes of Ming's skilled ministrations. Then it hit her, with a surprising level of intensity considering the circumstances. Her muscles tensed, her back arched, pressing her body tighter against Ming, her hands clenched. She bit her lip hard to keep from making noise. Ming kept going as Madison's thighs tightened around her hand. She kept going after the first one passed, then whispered "again," not even stopping for a second. She must have really wanted to sell it. The second one came just as quickly as the first, and then Ming finally stopped after the third one. How in god's name she managed to keep quiet, she would probably never know, but the performance appeared to have served it's purpose, the reactions of their six watchers ranged from immature snickering to aroused awe to outright disgust.

Madison's body went limp, every muscle in her body exhausted. She melted into Ming's arms stroked Madison's hair, "Good girl…" she whispered in her ear, "Good girl." Two thoughts came through the haze and fatigue. The first one was that she was so incredibly in love with Ming.

The second one came from the colder, more logical part of her brain.

Phase Two complete.

 **So what do you guys think? I have big plans for most of the characters in this chapter. Operation Rebel Dragon is almost over, but there are still a couple more ops before the big kaboom. I both want to drop the bombs and I don't, I want to get to the real Fallout aspects of the story, but this pre war cold war spy stuff is fun to write.**

 **I'm no longer sure if I'm going to do the big reveal I had planned for the next chapter, in part because I'm having a difficult time remembering exactly what it was I intended to reveal. Blame midterms.**

 **Either way,**

 **Read and Review people.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Operation Rebel Dragon, Phase Three: Day 12**

Madison relaxed in the backseat of the armored limousine, her head resting on Ming's shoulder. She normally hated travelling with a full security detail, but the motorcade had been waiting for them when they got off the plane, leaving them little option. She always felt slightly suffocated by the detail, the limo was an upgraded version of the one used by the president, the drivers and guards were all former Mossad from before the Middle East collapsed, all of them were armed with plasma weapons. She'd loved it when she was younger, it made her feel like a princess or a queen, but now she just felt smothered by it. She much preferred her Rocket.

The last two weeks in Point Lookout were a happy blur. After their little performance, the rest of the evening had been quiet and it wasn't long before they retired back to the hotel room. The next day she dropped the holotape in the planned dead drop and went on as if nothing happened. She and Ming had agreed not to discuss the Chinese spy issue until they got back to the city, Point Lookout was clearly within hearing range of Chinese intelligence. Emma lost her companion the day after Madison made the dead drop, Nick got a call from headquarters about a Chinese spy. It had certainly given Ming bit of a shock, but then he'd rushed out and grabbed a couple of seamen from the Naval recruiting station because, "the local boys may be a little on the rare side." After that he'd stormed into the Calvert mansion and dragged a young senatorial staffer named Ashley Cheng out in cuffs. After that, he caught a ride on an army helicopter back to FBI headquarters. After that they spent the rest of the time hitting the tourist spots and spending quality time in the hotel room.

"Back to reality I suppose." Ming's words drew Madison out of her thoughts. Flying at night always left her reflective, but then again, Madison thought, so did a lot of things

"Referring to the whole Chinese spy thing?" Madison opened her eyes a crack and looked up at Ming. Emma had wanted to hit a few clubs so she grabbed a cab from the airfield.

"It's not the kind of thing you stop thinking about." Ming muttered while absentmindedly running her fingers through Madison's hair and looking out the window, Boston was an interesting city at night.

"My dad will be able to help, he's got plenty of friends in intelligence." Her first call would be to Payne, she couldn't contact the Activity from Point Lookout, it was a hotbed for Chinese operatives.

"I hope so." The rest of the ride passed in comfortable silence. They pulled up in front of House Tower and one of the bodyguards opened the door. Leaving the luggage for their entourage, they quickly crossed through the lobby into the elevator. The elevator was fast, as always, and a few seconds later they were stepping into Madison's apartment.

Leaning against Madison's kitchen counter was a well-built man in a pinstripe suit. If it weren't for his commanding presence and the slightly superior quality of his suit, he could have easily been mistaken for a part of the security detail. He had an easygoing grin on his face as he watched them enter, but there was an intensity in his eyes that said he didn't miss a single detail.

Madison's face lit up when she saw him, "Daddy!" She darted into his waiting arms.

"Hello Angel," he wrapped her up in a tight embrace. "It's so good to see you, how was Point Lookout, how are your studies going? You have to catch me up while I'm in town."

She pulled away and gestured towards Ming, who was currently standing there, unsure what she was supposed to do in this situation. "Daddy, this is Xiu Ming, my girlfriend."

"A pleasure to meet you Ming, Alexander Victory." He extended his hand.

Ming accepted it, suddenly feeling intimidated. "Nice to meet you Mister Victory, I've heard a lot about you."

"I've heard a lot about you too Ming," he turned to Madison, "Angel, do you mind if I steal Ming away for a few minutes, I have to scare the living day lights out of her."

"Daddy!" Madison blushed a deep red.

Her father chuckled, "Now darling, I've been preparing for this conversation for years, just because you've got a girlfriend instead of a boyfriend doesn't mean I don't still get to do the speech. It's a perk of being a dad." He looked back at Ming, "It won't take long, let's go up to the roof, I'm one of the owners of the damn building and they still won't let me smoke inside."

Madison looked at Ming, who merely shrugged her shoulders, might as well get it over with. Ming followed Madison's father into the elevator, then up to the roof. The roof of House Tower was surprisingly not used for anything, but it offered sweeping views of all of Boston. Madison's father weaved his way through the industrial air conditioning and heating systems, water tanks, and other machinery she didn't recognize. She followed him until they reached the edge of the roof.

He pulled two cigars out of his jacket, "smoke?"

He offered one to her, she took it, "Not around your daughter."

"Smart girl," he said, offering her a light then lighting his own. "She's like her mother, can't stand it." He took a long drag of the cigar, then blew out a puff of smoke. "Cubans, I did an op down there in '48 and I haven't been able to smoke anything else since."

Ming closed her eyes and took a drag of her own, "Your way of saying that you know who I am?"

"I was in special ops for the better part of my adult life, you think that I would let a top Chinese operative become intimate with my daughter and not know about it. You're good, probably the best they've got, you cover your tracks well, but you've been in the States too long not to be noticed."

She was quiet for a moment. Ming had thought that she was blown since the Niagara Falls operation went bad and she'd had to slip Yang out of custody. "She knows who I am."

"Of course she does." He paused, "I have a lot of friends in Intelligence, are you willing to turn?"

The question of whether she was willing to betray her homeland should have been a difficult one, but that decision had been made for her the second that they killed Ji. "I have no loyalty to China anymore, I am loyal to your daughter."

He looked at her, it wasn't lost on him that she was choosing his daughter over her nation. "I'll put you in contact with the appropriate people." He flicked an ash off of his sleeve. "You know, a lot of people aren't going to be too happy with one of the princesses of American capitalism being with a Chinese girl."

"You know what to do with the mail, right?"

She nodded, "yes sir."

He looked back towards the sweeping vista of Boston. "Good, if anyone tries to pull your visa or give you hell, tell me or Emma's father, and we'll come down on them like the wrath of god. You're a member of the American aristocracy now. It's a damn flawed system, but you've been a communist, so you know better than anyone, if you can't fix the system, it's best to be at the top."

Cynical, she thought, but honest. Ming could respect that. They stood there for a while, puffing on their cigars in silence. He broke the silence first. "Are you sure you want to do this? You'd be PNGed, but if you get caught doing this, you'll never see your family again."

Ming contemplated this for a moment, feeling a sliver of doubt slip into her heart. Then the thought of Ji popped into her mind, followed by the image of Madison, utterly crushing any doubt she had. She tossed the cigar off the edge of the roof.

"I love Madison, the politburo, the Department, China, they can all burn in hell."

 **Hey people, I'll be honest, I don't really like how this chapter turned out and I might go back and change it. I have midterms, so I wasn't entirely focused when I wrote this.**

 **But either way, what do you guys think?**

 **Read and Review People.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Operation Rebel Dragon, Debriefing**

Madison sat in Payne's office. Why the man insisted on being late to every meeting they had was beyond her. Maybe it's a power thing, she thought. He couldn't just be forgetful, you didn't become the top official of a covert agency if you were forgetful. It had to be a control thing. His way of saying, I'm in charge and I can make you wait if I want to. She'd seen it in a lot of the people that tended to flit around her father.

The past few days had passed in a flurry. Now that Ming was a double agent, they had to get the tradecraft worked out. The Chinese operative aspect hadn't changed too much of the plan, it mainly just meant that she had access to more information than originally thought. Her father had introduced Payne as a friend in intelligence and, as far as Ming knew, causally conscripted her to be Ming's handler. Ming had bristled at the idea of Madison being dragged into it, but Madison had talked her into it. That had been an important ruse, the faux conscription would explain why she would suddenly be involved with a covert agency for future operations.

Christopher Payne hustled into the room with his sleeves rolled up and a cigar between his teeth, looking for all the world like a stereotypical angry police chief. "Sorry I'm late Charmer, I just got out of a meeting with the NSC." He stubbed his cigar out in the ashtray on his desk and grabbed a bottle of scotch and two glasses from his desk.

He grinned at her as he filled half of each glass. "Madison" he said, dispensing with the formalities, "You have exceeded even my greatest expectations. A fucking Chinese double agent; that is the greatest catch we've had all year, and on your first operation. You planned this out masterfully, every aspect of it. If this were the CIA, we would give you the intelligence star for it." He chuckled, "But we're not, so this will have to do instead." He pushed a glass of scotch across the desk.

Madison blushed, "It wasn't all that much really. The approach and the seduction were my idea, so was turning Ming in Point Lookout and having my dad make the introduction between you two, but the Chinese really did all the work for us by killing Chao Ji. It's a shame, from what Ming says, he was a great person, but it completely alienated Ming."

Payne shook his head, "Your being too modest, we sent you hunting for a doe and you came back with an eighteen point buck."

Pushing the embarrassment aside, Madison pressed a point that was still sticking in her mind. "So tell me honestly, did the Activity know Ming was a Chinese operative before the approach? It's fine if you did, I can understand why you wouldn't tell me, but seriously, did you know who you were sending me after?"

He shook his head. "We didn't know a thing about it when we sent you out, we only started connecting the dots when we found out she met Wan Yang at the Calvert Ball."

Madison considered his words for a moment. He sounded genuine, and even if he wasn't, there was no way she could know, thus there was no point in her pushing for more answers. So she just took hold of her glass and clinked it against Christopher's.

"To your first asset, and your first successful operation. To Operation Rebel Dragon."

"To the Activity." She downed her drink and enjoyed the comfortable burn of the scotch as it flowed down her throat.

"So," she said.

"What's next?"

 **Just a quick little cap on Operation Rebel Dragon. I've got a bunch of different ops bouncing around in my head and I've yet to decide which one that I want to use. My first instinct it to go full on assassination or state sponsored terrorism, but I'm going for a John Le Carre feel and he liked to keep it subtle.**

 **Read and Review People.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Operation Stradivarius: 8 hours window remaining**

The coffee shop was just closing up. Liam was in the back, mopping up. _Why we don't just get a Mister handy for this shit_ , he thought. Though, on second thought, if they got a Mister Handy to do the cleaning, they could just as easily get a Mister Handy to be the barista, then he'd be out of a job _. Better to be stuck cleaning than to be unemployed_ , Liam concluded.

Then he heard a loud banging from the lobby, followed by an annoyed yell, "God damn it."

 _There shouldn't be anyone out there_ , Liam thought. He was always the last one out, and they never had customers this late. Technically, they'd been closed for fifteen minutes. With this in mind, he grabbed the baseball bat that he kept leaning on the wall next to the door between the lobby and the back and went to see who this intruder was.

The lobby was dark, management had been on their asses about lowering the electricity bill. So once he'd finished cleaning, he'd turned out all the lights. A figure in dark clothing was just getting back to their feet, considering where they were rubbing, they'd probably slipped on the wet floor and fallen on their ass.

"Hey buddy, if you're here for coffee, we're closed." Liam held the baseball bat where he knew the intruder could see it. "And if you're looking to rob the place, find somewhere else or I'll knock your block off."

"Put that thing down Liam. It's just me." The figure pulled down the hood of their sweatshirt to reveal a brunette with striking green eyes.

"Madison," he said, putting the bat down. "You know we're kind of closed, right?"

She nodded, then looked back on the spot where she just fell. "Yeah, I figure that's why it's dark as hell and the floor is like an ice rink. I swear between that and Ming, my ass is going to be permanently bruised."

"Well you shouldn't come in here after we close," He motioned for her to follow him into the back. "But tell me more about what Ming is doing to give you those bruises."

She punched him in the arm, "Fucking perv."

He laughed, "I'm a guy; you can't suddenly get a hot girlfriend and not expect me to make comments. It's hard coded into our systems." Once they were back in the coffee shop's break room he turned back to her. "So what the hell do you need coffee for at this time of night? You and the girls pulling an all-night study session or something?"

Madison suddenly looked apprehensive. "I'm not here for coffee Liam. You know how you were a soldier in the Winter gang?"

 _How in all bloody hell does she know about that?_ Liam's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "I don't know what you're talking about Maddy."

She reached into the pocket of her sweatshirt, Liam half expected her to pull out a recording device. Instead, she pulled out a fat bundle of hundred dollar bills. "Liam, I don't care what you used to do. I know that you were running numbers when you were nine. I know you were stealing cars for them by the time you were fourteen. I know you were involved in extortion, armed robbery, burglary, and on two occasions, the destruction of evidence in a murder case. I also know you got out of that sort of stuff after high school, I don't care about any of that."

Liam kept one eye on the cash and the other fixed firmly on Madison. "I'm not saying anything, but hypothetically, if none of that matters to you then why would you bring any of it up?"

Madison took a deep breath before speaking again, "I need you to help me break into someone's house." She pointed to the money, "That's two thousand dollars."

 _What the hell?_ "Madison, what is this, some kind of sorority initiation stunt?"

She shook her head, "Liam, it's not that, but I need you to not ask any questions. All I can tell you is that it's important."

He looked Madison up and down, taking notice of certain details for the first time. She was dressed entirely in black, black sweatshirt, black sweatpants, black tennis shoes, black gloves. He thought about her request, they'd known each other just over a year and this wasn't the kind of thing she got into. She was loaded, so money wasn't something she'd steal for. No exes, so no stuff she'd have to steal back. That only left thrill seeking, he'd seen a few of those when he ran with the Winter crew. CIT had turned Boston into the one of the capitals of the American tech industry, and one of the best college towns in the world. That meant every uber-rich corporate CEO, political mastermind, or old money blue blood who thought their little darlings were the next Robert House, or just wanted another thing to brag about at parties in the Hamptons, sent their kids to Boston to study.

This brought whole new industries to the city. Wealth flowed in and luxury goods dealers came with it. And just as legitimate businesses adapted, so did the illegitimate. The local crews had to step up their drug game, drop the standard stuff and get into real pharmaceutical stuff, from pot to Daytripper, from peyote to Daddy-O, they had to get their hands on X-Cell, on Calmex, and on addictol so that when the party was over, the kids could take a few puffs and be right as rain before their morning lectures. Car boosting crews had to learn to work around the anti-theft devices for Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, Mercedes, and Chryslus Rockets. Second story guys had to learn how to circumvent top dollar security systems and get into ritzy apartments and penthouses. High end prostitution, new underground casinos, millions of dollars were changing hands constantly. The stakes weren't small time anymore, the Boston crews were on the level of the New York outfits now.

And the rich kids weren't happy to just be customers. Dealing with criminals wasn't exciting enough for some of them. They wanted to dip a toe into the underworld, run numbers, deal some drugs to their friends, boost a few cars, that sort of thing. Bosses loved them, mainly because they'd usually work for free. Street guys like Liam had hated them, mainly because they didn't know what the hell they were doing. It was one of the reasons he'd gotten out of the game. Eventually one of those kids was going to get caught, it would be all over the news before their family could cover it up and then the people would demand action and the feds would be all over Boston.

But he'd always thought Madison was smarter than that. "Madison, if you're looking for a fucking thrill, go sky diving, go down to Florida and punch a great white, go do anything other than this."

Madison shook her head, "Liam, that's not an option."

 _Fucking perfect._ "Alright, fuck, if you're really going to insist on this, I'll help. But not something as risky as burglary. We'll boost a couple of cars, move some merchandise for one of the crews, get whatever craziness that's making you want to do this out of your system." He ran his hand through his hair, _fuck._

Still, Madison shook her head, "Liam, I'm not doing this for any stupid thrill or anything like that. This is important, and I need you to help me with it. I need to get into a specific person's house, technically it's an apartment, and then I need to do what I have to do, and get out without leaving a trace. Now are you going to help me or not?"

 _Fuck,_ Liam face palmed, _she's going to do this if I help or not._ "Maddy, what the fuck have you gotten yourself into?"

"Liam, your smart enough to know that I'm not going to tell you that."

 _Fuck,_ "Alright, I'll help, I'm assuming you want to do this tonight. Let me finish closing up, then I'll meet you at your place in twenty minutes."

"Thank you Liam-" He held up a hand, cutting her off.

He picked up the cash and took half of it. "Half now, half when the job is done. Always do it that way, bring half the cash up front, promise them the rest when the job is done. Always, even with people you know. People need a reason not to just shoot you and take the money." He held the rest of the money out towards her.

She took it, "Thank you Liam, but I figured we would just go right now."

 _Of course she did. This is why I never liked working with rookies._ "I still have to close up, and you have to change." He could tell that she was about to interrupt. "I'll tell you why, at your place. You don't want me to ask any questions, fine, I won't, but we do this my way." She looked like she was about to protest, but thought better of it.

"Alright, I'll meet you at my place." With that, she left.

 _What the fuck am I getting myself into?_

 **First post Dragon Op, I'm trying something different by italicizing specific thoughts, tell me if you think it's better. I kind of think it helps, at least, I don't think it hurts.**

 **This one won't take nearly as many chapters as Dragon, but it's not nearly as plot heavy. It's actually kind of fun to write as Liam.  
**

 **Either way,**

 **Read and Review People.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Operation Stradivarius: 7 Hour and 35 Minute Window Remaining**

 _I'm going to kill them._

Ming paced from one end of the apartment to the other.

 _I am going to kill them. I am going to crush Payne's windpipe._

"Babe, seriously, don't worry about it."

Ming turned to where Madison was sitting on the couch. "Madison, they've already dragged you into this by making you their point of contact with me." Ming refused to refer to Madison as her handler. "Now they're having you run ops for them." She looked at what Madison was wearing, for the third time. "And they're not even giving you any training. No wonder the Department has been so successful in the United States, they're just throwing you to the wolves."

"It's not that bad, it's just a simple break in, this is why I didn't want to tell you. I thought you would be at the computer lab all night."

 _And they want her to hide things from me._ "Madison, I love you to death, but you are completely out of your depth here. I am so sorry that I dragged you into this."

Madison looked indignant, "Ming, I don't get dragged into anything. I chose to get involved with this." She stood up and marched over to Ming, throwing her arms over her shoulders. "And I chose to be involved in this because you are the love of my life and I will do anything for you."

She looked down at Madison, their height differences were never more apparent than times like this. Madison wasn't short, she was 5'7, but Ming was extremely tall for a Chinese woman, 6'1. Something about those green eyes… like twin emerald set in her perfect face, whenever they met Ming's, nothing else mattered. Her lips were on Madison's before a thought even crossed her mind, it was instinctual. Payne, the op, her anger, everything but Madison, it all just faded away.

It was slow, gentle, their lips caressing each other, Madison's arms around Ming's neck, Ming's arms around Madison's waist, pulling them tighter against each other. They stood like this for a full two minutes. "Alright," Ming whispered, "If we're going to do this, we do it together. I know what I'm doing, I've been trained for this sort of thing, just follow my lead."

"I don't think Payne would be okay with that."

"Fuck him." _If he has a problem with it, I'll kill him._

There moment was interrupted by the sound of a knock at the door. "That must be Liam." Madison pulled away. "You're right, I'm out of my depth when it comes to the whole breaking and entering thing, so I brought in someone who knows what they're doing." _Who the hell could that be?_ Ming was desperately hoping Madison was smart enough not to hire a random thug. She was sure that Madison was too smart for that. _Still,_ she thought as she adopted what was known as a passive combat stance and took a steak knife from the kitchen counter, _better safe than sorry._

To her surprise, it was Liam who entered when Madison opened the door. "Oh fuck," he said when he saw her, "Please tell me that you aren't in on this fucking yoke."

"Afraid so," Ming discreetly put the steak knife back where it was. "Exactly why you're involved, I can probably guess. Experience from a misspent youth?"

"Something like that." She took in the details of his appearance. She had to admit, he had the right look for second story work. Neutral colored clothing, nothing too bright to draw attention, nothing too dark to draw suspicion. Athletic build, but not overly bulky. He looked like a perfectly respectable young man, which is exactly the look a person wants when they're doing very disreputable activities.

"Alright, so tell me why this isn't what I should be wearing to break into someone's house." That brought her attention back to Madison.

"Because," Liam said, "That's what you wear if you're breaking into a place and you don't want anyone to see you. When you're breaking into someone's house, you don't want anyone to notice you, big difference." He'd just voiced the same concern that Ming had been holding back since she'd come home early to find Madison dressed like that.

"Here," Ming grabbed Madison by the arm, "I'll help you find something to wear, I'll need to change too." Her current outfit would garner too much attention, the price of letting Emma overhaul her wardrobe. She pulled her into their room, Ming technically didn't live with them, but she spent most nights there, and she'd moved most of her stuff over there… Okay, so she lived with them. It hadn't been a conscious decision, at first she would bring an overnight bag, then Madison suggested she keep some clothes there. Then Emma had started shopping for her and she would find new outfits waiting for her every time she came over. Then, as their relationship got more intense, their… encounters occurred more often, and that led to her spending the night more often. Eventually, she started spending more time there than she did at her own apartment.

When they emerged, Ming had put on a dark red tee shirt and jeans with a brown leather jacket. Madison had switched to a purple sweatshirt and jeans. Liam nodded his approval when he saw them. "Much better."

Ming couldn't decide whether to like or hate Liam. This wasn't the first time they'd met, but this was the first time they'd really interacted. He seemed to know what he was doing. But at the same time he was treating them like amateurs, which Madison was. Then she realized, _Madison didn't tell him_. _He has no idea what he's dealing with._

Madison grabbed a sports bag from where it sat next to the couch. "Liam, your car is less conspicuous than my Rocket or Ming's motorcycle, so we'll all just take your car."

Liam nodded, "I was planning on it, what's the address?" Madison rattled it off.

Twenty minutes later, they were pulling up to the curb a block away from their target's apartment building. Liam leaned over the front seat and looked at Madison. "So fill me in on the details. I don't know what you told your girlfriend, but I need to know how this job is going to go down."

 _I wouldn't mind knowing a bit more myself,_ Ming thought. Madison had filled her in on the highlights of the op when she'd come home to find her dressed like a cat burglar. Basic surveillance job, get in, go through the place for intel, wire the place, get out. Ming had run a few similar jobs, though she suspected that the Americans would go a bit further than a few basic bugs, considering they had the home court advantage.

Madison kept her face neutral, "We're going after apartment number 314, it's on the third floor. The occupant is in Atlanta and his flight won't get back until the morning. We have a little over seven hours left to work. There's a doorman, but the service elevator connects to the alley running behind the building. It's not guarded and the cameras are dummies." She pointed to an alley, "We enter the alley over there, slip into the service elevator, and take it up to the third floor. The locks are all pretty basic, but if we need the key, there should be one in the custodian's closet."

Liam looked impressed, and despite herself, Ming had to admit that she was too. _She's good at this_. She'd planned it out pretty well. And at the very least, this shadow group they were dealing with had provided solid surveillance. "Alright," Liam said, "Lead the way."

They got out of the car and made their way into the alley. There was no one out on the street, but that just meant that they would stand out more to anyone looking out their window. They walked casually until they were in the alley, out of view from any possible onlookers. Then they sprinted until they were almost to the service elevator. Pausing, Liam peeked around the corner to make sure that there were no late night deliverymen or random residents slipping out for a smoke. There weren't any. They got into the service elevator, they pulled on their gloves, and Madison pressed the button for the third floor.

Everything was going exactly according to plan, this put Ming on edge. If an operation was going entirely according to plan, then you were usually getting played. The elevator trundled its way up, it sounded like it could really use a good round of routine maintenance. When they finally reached the third floor, Liam pulled the door up. The hallway was clear, doing nothing to assuage Ming's nerves. _This is far too easy._

Apartment number 314 was on the southern corner of the building. The door was a different shade than the other apartments, Ming was willing to wager that it had been replaced, likely with something reinforced. The hinges were on the inside, meaning they couldn't just take the door out of the frame.

"Watch the halls," Liam whispered, getting down to examine the lock. "This is a strong lock, way stronger than an apartment in a place like this should have." He pulled a set of lock picks out of his pocket. Ming looked at the other apartments, their locks were different, that meant the lock was like the door, new. Good odds that the custodian's key wouldn't work.

 _Reinforced door, high security lock, the target's not a pro, a pro would have made sure the cameras actually worked and set up some security in the alley. But he's better than an amateur._ She would have to pump some information out of Madison when this was done, preferably in the shower or when she had Madison tied up nice and tight on their bed.

"How much longer," Madison asked.

"Just… another… second… there." The lock clicked open and they all filed in, eager to get out of sight. The interior was what you'd expect out of a cheap apartment, open concept, a living room area connecting to the kitchen area. Two doors on the wall opposite to the entrance presumably led to other rooms of the apartment. It was the lumpy rug that drew Ming's attention, that along with the odd smell and the odd colored places on the walls. She grabbed Liam and Madison by the collar before they could move any further. She got down and pulled up on the edge of the rug, sure enough, there was a pressure plate connecting to an ignition device. The whole apartment was one big firebomb.

"Guy's a lunatic," Liam shook his head.

Madison stayed focused, "Liam, stay out here and keep watch. Ming, help me in the office." Ming followed her through the door on the left, carefully making sure that they didn't step on the pressure plate, and keeping an eye out for any other surprises. Madison closed the door behind them when they were in the office. Then they went to work.

Ming went straight for the terminal while Madison took her gear from the bag. She ran an exploit in the debugging software while Madison unscrewed the cover from the outlet. _Jacking into the power supply, must be a long term bug._ There was a strong encryption program on the terminal, but Ming was able to crack it. The password turned out to be 'violin.' How Madison had planned on cracking the terminal without her evaded Ming. The files on the computer were most enlightening, possible bombing targets, possible recruits, they were dealing with a domestic terrorist. And considering the language, it was one with ties back to her homeland.

By the time they were done, they'd copied the files from the computer onto a holotape, photographed all the documents in the safe, installed seven different bugs, including a keylogger, and wiped away any trace of their presence. Ming poked her head out and looked at Liam, he nodded the all clear. Their mission accomplish, they exfiltrated, back to the service elevator, down to the alley, and back to the car. And not a single witness.

 _Guess we didn't need to change after all,_ Ming thought as she climbed into the passenger seat. _Still, better safe than sorry_. That phrase had become her motto since moving to America.

The ride back to House Tower passed in silence. When they got back, Madison pressed a stack of hundreds into Liam's hands before they bid each other good night. Liam driving off into the night while they took the elevator back up. The tension in Ming's stomach didn't uncoil until they were back in their apartment.

"Well," Madison said, "That went as well as I could have hoped."

Ming grinned, then pulled her in for a kiss.

"I need a bath," she said quietly.

"And you need to join me."

 **So Stradivarius is almost done, you'll understand the op name next chapter. I'm kind of liking the whole POV thing, but what do you guys think, is it working out alright? I wasn't originally planning on having a lot of prewar ops, but I kind of like them. Besides that, it's 2065 in the story right now, I've got twelve years of a covert career to cover. And lie I've said, I like writing them.**

 **Read and Review People.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Lesbian sexy bathtub fun ahoy mateys.**

 **ye be warned.**

 **Operation Stradivarius: Unofficial debriefing**

 _My god, I am in heaven._

Madison lay back in Ming's arms. The jets gently tickled her skin. The water was scented with jasmine. Sinatra was playing softly over the speakers in the ceiling. Ming's hands massaged her muscles. She rested her head on Ming's shoulder. All of the tension from the break in slipped out of her body. She had done her best not to show it, but she had been coiled like a spring the entire time.

She'd never actually used the huge Jacuzzi tub before she'd gotten with Ming. Emma used it constantly, and these days Madison could certainly see why. Before, she'd always stuck with showering, it was quicker. Though, as Madison was quick to discover, a bath was incredibly enjoyable when you had someone to share it with.

"I'm thinking of getting a Mister Handy." Madison said as Ming worked her way down her arms.

"Bit of a security risk, isn't it?" Ming tightened her legs around Madison's thighs. She had a tendency to seize control of situations like this without even trying to. With Ming's legs the way they were now, Madison couldn't move her lower body, and Ming's arms were crossed over Madison's chest in a way that secured her upper body. Add in the fact that Ming was bigger and stronger than her, and even without any ropes or restraints, Ming had her completely and thoroughly dominated.

 _Not that I mind,_ Madison thought with a small grin. There was something oddly liberating about complete submission to someone you trusted entirely. Letting it all go, facing your desires without any guilt, letting all the responsibility fall on someone else for a change. It was incredibly relaxing, not to mention one hell of a trust building exercise. "How so?" she purred.

"They're easy to hack, we do it for fun in the computer labs all the time." Ming planted a line of soft kisses along her collar bone, eliciting a content sigh from Madison.

"Maybe, but it would certainly be nice to have. Especially for moments like this, one could go get a couple of glasses of champagne, I really feel like a glass of champagne to celebrate." This was her first real field op, Ming's recruitment was different. Had that failed, the worst that would have happened would have been Ming finding out and cutting off relations with her. If this had gone badly, she could have died. The fact that it was gone almost exactly as she'd planned it made her want to celebrate.

Ming kissed her temple, "Tianxin, I love you, but I've done this sort of thing before. A simple B and E job isn't a champagne moment." Then she pinched Madison's nipple.

"Hey," Madison yelped, leaning forward. Ming playfully pulled her back.

"This was my first field operation," she said, nuzzling Ming's neck, "I'm allowed to be happy about it."

"Apologies Tianxin," Ming's hand drifted southward, sending a shudder down Madison's body.

"Apology accepted." _I was wrong, now I'm in heaven,_ Madison thought as the feelings grew more intense and she started writhing in Ming's grip. The stimulation kept building, and building, and building. Then it all came crashing down in one big release. Her entire body tensed, then went completely limp.

"So who did we bug anyway?" Madison heard Ming ask through her post climax daze. Ming's hand had slowed, but hadn't stopped. It wasn't enough to start her on another one, just enough to keep her squirming.

 _This girl loves to torture me._

"Okay you sadist, I'll talk, a terrorist with Chinese sympathies, Payne's people called him a Fifth Columnist. He's a violin player in the Boston Philharmonic. They think he was turned during the last goodwill tour of China. You know, back before diplomatic relations turned into a total mess."

"Considering he rigged his apartment to be one giant firebomb," She nipped Madison's neck, "I would say that they were probably right."

 _How does the same organization that turned out Ming turn out a guy like that?_ "The guy's a lunatic, but now, at least he's a monitored lunatic. The bugs we planted will let Payne's people know everyone that he meets. Who knows, this may stop a terrorist attack."

"You're enjoying this?"

 _More than you could possibly realize. It led me to you, didn't it?_ She cocked her head to the side and pretended to think about it. "Maybe a little, but if this is going to be my new life, what's the harm in enjoying it a bit?"

Ming took her hand and whispered in her ear, "Our new life."

 _Yes,_ Madison thought.

"Our new life."

 **And that wraps up Stradivarius, like I said, this was going to be a quick one.**

 **So what did you guys think? Good? Bad? I love feedback.**

 **Read and Review people.**


	14. Chapter 14

_It is really surprising how quickly you get used to this stuff?_

Madison set the document on the ever growing pile and moved on to the next one. She was going over the intelligence files on the current rash of terrorism in the United Kingdom. Bombings, assassinations, mass shootings, it was a mess over there. The group responsible for it all was the Irish Republican Army, it had been growing more and more militant over the years. And in 2064, tensions finally came to a head, then the IRA hoisted the black flag, or green as the case may be, and began to slit throats. And it was getting worse, the group had gone from quick hit and run attacks to full scale assaults on government buildings and open gun battles in the streets with government forces.

The first few files had made her want to puke, cry, scream, or some combination of the three. The charred corpses of the children, driver, and teachers in a bombed school bus. After that had been the fifteen year old boy that British soldiers had found and pulled out of a ditch, burns and cuts marred his entire upper body, he was missing four of his teeth, and all of his finger and toe nails had been ripped out. He'd been a runner for the group and someone had thought he was an informer, so they'd snatched him on his way home from a party and spent a few nights putting the screws to him, then tossed him in the ditch to die when they felt satisfied. The last one that had really affected her had been the picture of the bodies that had been pulled out of a mass grave in a bog outside Belfast. Two dozen bodies, all lined up neatly on plastic sheets, some fresh enough that you could still see the terror on their faces, some rotted beyond recognition, male, female, old men and women, children, and one in particular that would haunt her nightmares, an infant with a knife handle still protruding from it's face.

The new leaders of the IRA would go to any means they felt necessary to get their point across, and they clearly had no qualms about killing children.

After she had gotten past the worst, the rest got easier. She was slowly but steadily building a tolerance for the gruesome images.

 _I'm really not sure whether that is a good thing or not._ Practically, she knew that she needed to be able to look past the emotional factor involved in situations like this, but at the same time she knew that it might not be entirely healthy from a psychological point of view.

In either case, her eyes were getting tired. She leaned back in her chair until she heard her spine start popping. Yawning, she looked around her quarters at the Activity's headquarters. She was still undecided on whether or not to decorate the room. On the one hand, it would make it homier and more comfortable for nights like this where she was working late. On the other, it would also make her easier to read, something that did not seem like a good idea in an underground complex full of spies.

She looked over at the pile of homework sitting on the coffee table. Classes had started up again after the break, adding homework to the work the Activity was assigning her. For most, it probably would have caused a drop in grades or an increase in stress. But in all honesty, she was glad for the challenge, she could breeze through her classes with her eyes closed, and the intelligence work she was doing more than made up for it in terms of intellectual challenge.

Despite what she told Ming, she hadn't just been assigned the break in part of the Stradivarius operation. Karen had given her some files on Chinese intelligence to look over so that she could better understand the stuff she was getting from Ming. She'd read the files and noticed a pattern, one of the files had been the transcripts of various debriefings of Americans returning from China. This included the statements from the Boston Philharmonic after the goodwill tour. The violinist had reported being approached by someone about working for the Chinese government, but said that he told the guy 'where he could shove his deal.' A few conspicuous purchases, however, told a different story. The Philharmonic paid fairly well, but not well enough to afford a villa in the Caymans islands, a yacht to get there, and a former model mistress to decorate it.

She'd brought it to Karen's attention and Karen brought it to Payne. Some discreet surveillance showed that he was meeting with people that he had no reason to be meeting with. A background check showed that he'd had some ties with local communist groups in college. Payne had wanted to send a strike team in and snatch the guy. Madison had suggested that instead of grabbing him, they should let him loose so that he could lead them to other Chinese agents. He'd agreed with her suggestion, and the next thing she knew, she was tasked with wiring his apartment.

That must have impressed them, because they kept putting files in front of her for analysis. The IRA dossier being just the latest. In between had been a dossier on some of the Islamic fundamentalist groups that had scattered around the world since the holy land became an irradiated hell hole, a dossier on the cartels merging to overshadow governments in South America, and a dossier on attacks on the Russian oil pipelines. She got the sense that they were throwing everything they could at her to find her weak points.

 _Haven't found any yet_ , she thought with a smile. Arrogant, but not entirely undeserved. She'd been able identify which supercartels were likely to be amenable to cooperation. The leaders of the new Medellin cartel, which controlled all the countries in northeastern South America, had all been educated in the United States. They'd all done so under various assumed names, but if one followed the money through the labyrinth of banks and shell companies, it eventually became clear that their tuition had been paid for in drug money. And a similar bombing methodology between three incidents across Europe and two of the attacks on the Russian pipelines had led her to connect the attacks to a demolitions specialist who was a member of a mujahedeen group that had resettled itself in Eastern Europe.

It was actually pretty fun. Like taking eight different jigsaw puzzles, dumping all the pieces on the floor, mixing them up, and then figuring out which pieces went to which puzzle and putting them together. Difficult at first, but if you looked hard enough, the patterns emerged and the pictures became clear.

 _The picture is getting clear with this IRA thing too._

Her thoughts were interrupted by the feel of cold circle of metal on the back of her neck. Her reflexes kicked in and in two seconds she was up and whirling around, sending a palm strike at the general area where the intruder's head would be. Instead of dislocating the jaw and knocking out her attacker, her hand was twisted into a lock.

"You know, we should spend some time together on the mat, I could show you some very interesting moves."

"Karen, you can let go of my hand." _This woman is like a freaking ghost._ Of all the people she knew, her case officer was the only one who could sneak up on her like that.

She turned to find Karen standing in front of her in her usual semi-slutty business attire with a cup of coffee and a Nuka Cola Victory in one hand, the other one presumably having been used for the wrist lock. "I just came by to see how it was going with the files."

Madison took the Victory from her and popped the cap off. She felt a mix of affection and suspicion for her handler. On the one hand, she had been there to guide her through the more difficult parts of turning Ming and had been an open source of advice whenever she'd needed it. On the other hand, she was quite clearly an expert liar, a skilled infiltrator, and an incredibly capable close quarters combatant. Not to mention the fact that despite numerous attempts, she had found out absolutely nothing more than what she already knew, and that was just her first name.

"I've found an interesting pattern, and I'd like to run it up the flagpole and get an operation going." The acidic taste of the Victory helped her get her mind out of the world of facts and logical inferences and back into the real world.

"Show me what you have."

Madison turned back to where the documents were spread out over her desk, highly conscious of Karen leaning over her shoulder. Regardless, she shuffled the papers until she found the one that she wanted.

"See here," she pointed to a timeline of attacks in the past year. "All of the attacks are fairly steady, riots, beatings, murders, arson, but the major attacks occur every two and a half months. No one saw the pattern because the attacks take a different form every time. An assault never follows an assault, a bombing never follows a bombing." She pointed to a copy of the logs for the port of Belfast. "All of the major attacks occur within a week of an American freighter coming into port." She shuffled through the papers until she came up with a couple of ship registrations.

"Belfast is a major port, and a lot of American freighters go through, but each of the five freighters is registered with one of three mid-level shipping companies." She dug out a sheaf of SEC filings. "These three companies are owned by a ten year old shell company called Avalon Holdings Group, a company that also owns the Four Leaf Fishpacking Plant, the O'Neil Family Manufacturing Company, and a couple of apartment blocks. That's owned by a man named Shaun Harris" She pulled out a folder with a picture of a blonde man with gleaming white teeth paper clipped on to it. "According to the Avalon Holdings Group official documentation, Harris is a Brown grad with a master's in business administration and fifteen years of experience in high finance."

She opened the folder, revealing a picture of a man with dirty brown hair and a sincere need of some expert dentistry clipped to a stack of papers. "The only problem is that the Shaun Harris in the Brown Alumni database is a different Shaun Harris who works for General Atomics, and the documents for the Shaun Harris in charge of Avalon were appropriated from a stillborn that died in 2034." She tapped the photo, "This is the current owner of the Avalon Holdings Group fifteen years ago, his name is Sean Hannigan, before becoming the man he is today, he was a used car salesman in Providence." She pulled out a police report. "A couple of his cars ended up getting used in various crimes, one was a getaway from an armed robbery, another was used in a hit and run, and a few more were caught running drugs. He booked it when the Providence Police Department rolled up the operation."

She took another drink of her Victory. "The one recurring factor among all those crimes, Eddie Winter." She pulled out another folder. "If you follow the money, you find out that Avalon's startup money was all cash. The serial numbers on the bills used match those on bills stolen in a bank heist in Hartford, Connecticut, twenty years ago." She pulled out a set of court records, "A bank heist that Eddie Winter was indicted for, but the lead witness recanted their statement and the whole thing fell apart." She pointed back to the SEC filings, "The Avalon Holdings Group is a front company for Winter's organization."

"Every time one of those freighters gets back from Belfast, there's a major spike in Avalon's profits, something that shouldn't be happening considering all of those freighters are running standard contracts that should show a steady profit flow, but not spikes." She pulled out another police report. "Three months ago, police raided a warehouse that belongs to an associate of Winter's. They found a hundred barrels of black market oil, the primary source of funding for the IRA."

"So Winter is in the middle of it all, not surprising, Irish gangster profiting off of Irish terrorists. It makes sense." Karen said, sipping her coffee. "The question is where are the weapons coming from? They're using military grade equipment over in Ireland, Winter is bad, but he's not bad enough to get his hands on that kind of firepower."

"I'm getting to that." She pulled out a forensic report on the school bus bombing. "The chemical composition of the C4 used in this bombing matches that used by the U.S. Army. More specifically the kind used by the combat engineer division currently stationed at Fort Hagen." She pulled out an after action report from an assault on a government military installation. "The body armor and weapons used in this assault are the same as the ones used by the infantry division stationed at Fort Independence." She pointed to a set of shipping manifests, "These are the manifests for all the arms shipments to a dozen different military installations." Then she pointed to a set of armory storage records, "These are the internal audits from a week after the deliveries."

"The numbers are different, you think he has someone skimming the shipments."

"I know he does, all of the came through this logistics depot." She pointed to a spot on a map near the edge of her desk. "He has to have someone on the inside there. And the timelines match up, each shipment passed through a few days before the freighters left port."

"Alright, I can see it. What's your operational goal?" Karen turned around and took a few steps away, giving Madison some space.

"Shut down the weapons pipeline, plug the leaks, and possibly get intel on the IRA from Winter."

Karen was quiet for a few minutes, "Alright, get your people on it, requisition anything you need, and get back to me when it's finished."

That took Madison like a double sucker punch to the gut. She couldn't decide what surprised her more, that Karen knew about Ming and Liam, or that she'd basically just given Madison complete operational discretion. Immediately she knew it was another test. "Alright," she said, putting more confidence in her voice than she actually had. She expected Karen to admit she was just jerking her around, but the admission didn't come.

Instead, Karen just looked back at her before she walked out.

"Training wheels are coming off Madison, you've hit every challenge we've thrown at you so far without missing a beat, but all of that doesn't mean anything if you can't plan and execute your own operations. You're greenlit for whatever covert action you've got in mind."

Karen grinned as she said the last part.

"Don't screw up though."

"You're more entertaining to watch than any agent I've seen in a long time."

 **Hey guys,**

 **This was a pretty dialogue heavy chapter, but I've always heard that it's better to show than tell, so I wanted at least one chapter to show Madison's analytic ability. Not to mention, in the real intelligence business, analysis is a good sixty percent of the job.**

 **So guys, as always, Read and Review.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Operation Moralltach: Preparation**

The Logistics section of the Activity's headquarters was located on one of the lower floors. It was a separate entity to the armory, which was located on the same floor, but on the other side of the complex. Madison had never been there. She hadn't had any reason to so far. Karen had mentioned that they could get a hold of anything an operative could need for an operation. _And boy do I have a hell of a shopping list._

It was a simple enough place, looked more like the waiting room at a dentist's office than the supply center for a black ops agency. A set of chairs lined a wall and a window with a counter under on the opposite wall. There was no one there when she walked in. A sign next to the window read, 'ring bell for service.'

She did as she was told, and a minute later a man popped up at the window. It took her a second to realize that this was the same person who drove her to the Activity's headquarters that first night.

"Kid!" He said grinning. "You're not dead, and from what I've been hearing, you've done pretty damn well for yourself."

Madison hadn't expected this. "Thank you mister…?"

The man smacked himself in the forehead, "Where are my manners, I never properly introduced myself." He stuck out his hand, "Walter, just Walter. One name, like Daklon, or Daryl."

She shook his hand, "It's nice to see you again. I have no idea who either of those people are."

He looked shocked, "Daklon, the greatest singer ever to come of Tel Aviv? Daryl, the Magician's Magician?"

She adopted a look of apologetic puzzlement. "Sorry"

He waved a hand in dismissal, "No problem, now, I'm sure that you didn't come down here for a lesson on good entertainment. What can I do for you?"

She slid the list across the counter. He picked it up and read it over. _He's going to look at me like I'm nuts and ask if I'm jerking him around._

"Alright, give me a few minutes to get all of this together" Then he darted out of sight. She stood there awkwardly for a solid fifteen minutes. _I wonder if he's screwing with me, waiting for me to leave. The list is a tall order, I get it. But that doesn't mean he gets to be a dick._

Her worry was abated when he shocked her by returning with two large duffel bags. "Alright, let me list off everything just to make sure I have it all. Five million dollars in unmarked, non-sequential bills. Two syringes of propofol. Three bricks of the same kind of C4 used by the 103rd Engineer Division. A panel van and a safehouse, keys and address are in the bag. I called my buddy over in the armory, Four sets of body armor and four laser rifles will be sitting in your trunk when you leave. I also backstopped an identity for you, it wasn't on your list, but it's always helpful to cover your bases, legend's in the bags."

 _When Karen said anything, she really meant anything._ "I only needed three sets of body armor and laser rifles."

The guy's smile widened, "I know, but an intimidation job is a four person gig. Two to stand behind you and look like badassses, and one to do the dirty work behind everyone's back. So I called one of my other buddies over in Tactical, he'll have one of his boys waiting for you up top. Good guy, his file's in the bag."

"How did you know…"

He cut her off, "Kid, I've been around the bend more times than I could count. I know what a shopping list for an intimidation op looks like."

"Thank you Walter," there didn't seem to be any point in arguing with him. At the very least, he seemed nice enough and like he knew what he was doing. It wasn't all that different than her plan, just as long as this guy from Tactical didn't try and run the show. And if he did, she could pull him, Karen had given her complete control over this op. If this guy tried to take over, she could pull rank on him and if he really threw a fit then her case officer would back her up.

She grabbed the bags and started making her way to the elevator. While she walked, another fact popped into her head. She wasn't entirely sure how much the Activity knew in regards to Ming and Liam. Karen clearly knew that she wasn't working on her own, considering she'd explicitly said to get her people on it. The operative word there being people, plural, implying she knew that Madison was working with more than one person. That meant that she knew she was working with Ming as well as Liam.

 _Of course Karen knows, the woman has known everything I've done so far, why would she not know that?_ Her worries subsided and she stepped into the elevator up to the parking garage. In any other workplace, walking around with two duffel bags filled with cash, explosives, and other goodies would be something to look at. _My reality has become surreal._ She thought as she punched in the code for the underground parking garage.

Standing next to her car was a tall man with black hair cut military short. He wore a blazer over a dress shirt and slacks, undoubtedly to conceal his weapons. He looked to be about her age, maybe a year or two older, and he was obviously nervous.

"Hello," She said as she approached, "I'm Madison Victory, and you are?"

"Ah, you're the one I was told to wait for." He made to salute her, but stopped himself. That made her sure that he was about her age, she'd been around military people her whole life, she knew when someone was just out AIT. She stood there and watched him fidget for a solid minute before taking pity on him.

"Yes, don't salute me. This isn't basic, just tell me who you are and put these bags in the trunk."

He clearly knew how to respond to orders. He immediately stopped fidgeting and extended his hand.

"Nathan Shields ma'am, tactical support specialist, it's a pleasure to meet you.

 **Another operation started, another character introduced. For those of you wondering, yes, this is the Nate that appears in game if you choose a female sole survivor.**

 **This operation is going to be a bit flashier than the others. I'll admit, I got the entire idea for this next chapter from Burn Notice. But it's going to be fun.**

 **As always, Read and Review People.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Operation Moralltach: Briefing**

 _This will not end well._

Ming was watching coverage of military escalation in the Heilong Jiang region. Her homeland was expected to launch a military incursion into the Primorshy Krai region of Russia. Her cousin, Fan, would be there, he was a Colonel in the Crimson Dragoons. If they were pushing into that region, it wasn't because they wanted Russia, they wanted Japan, and Korea would be in their crosshairs in short order.

 _How far can they push the status quo before it finally breaks? How much longer until the US gets involved and the cold war turns hot and the world is set ablaze?_

 _God, I need something stronger than Nuka Cola If I'm going to be thinking about this._

God, now that was an interesting addition to her everyday vernacular since she came to America. Her mother would be ashamed. Good little communists didn't use the word god, ever.

 _But then again, she could always find a lot more than vocabulary to be ashamed of. Having a gay daughter in China will do that… Okay, I definitely need a drink before this line of thought goes any further._

Following her instinct, she got up and went to the kitchen. Their wine fridge was right underneath their liquor cabinet. Legally, none of them were old enough to have any use for either. But, as Ming had learned, when you were a member of the American Aristocracy, a lot of the little laws stopped applying to you. A couple of the big ones too, if some of the stories that Emma and Madison had told her were true.

Ming wasn't a huge drinker, but she usually stuck with scotch when she drank because she usually drank with Madison. This time, however, she decided to go with a Pinot Noir. As she was getting a wine glass and a corkscrew, she noticed the elevator coming up. They'd finally gotten tired of being woken up every time one of them came in late, so they'd turned the bell off.

"Hey babe, I'm opening a bottle of Pinot, want a glass?" She said without turning around.

The voice that answered was definitely not Madison's, "No thanks, but if you're pouring, I'll have a nice whisky on the rocks."

She knew the voice, "What are you doing here Liam?"

"Madison called me, said she had a job in the works. You didn't know?"

She twisted the cork out set the wine to breath. "She hasn't mentioned anything to me, what did she say that the op was?"

"Nothing, she just told me to meet her here and that she was on her way." He'd taken up a position behind her, leaning on the kitchen counter.

It was at that moment that the doors to the elevator opened again and out came Madison, a black haired young man with a distinctly military look about him trailed her. He had three duffel bags on his back. "Just set the bags on the couch Nate, would you like a drink?"

"No thanks Miss Victory."

Madison looked back at him, "Nate, call me Madison, you're older than me."

Then she walked into the kitchen. "Hey babe," she said, pecking Ming on the cheek.

"Hey, who's the guy with the bags?" Ming unconsciously wrapped her arm around Madison's waist.

"That is Nathan Shields, my tactical attaché, he'll be working with us on this job." Madison slipped a hand around Ming to grab the wine bottle. Ming reached up and pulled a glass from the rack and held it while Madison poured, then handed Madison the glass that she'd already poured for herself.

"Do they always do that?" Nathan had stepped into the kitchen.

Liam looked at him, "What, immediately latch onto each other and make simple actions look weirdly complicated?"

Nate gave him an odd look, but nodded, "yeah."

Liam looked back at Ming and Madison, "Yeah, pretty much. You're going to want that drink." He went to the liquor cabinet, "so tell me, are you guys black ops or something?"

This clearly made Nathan nervous. "No!" he said a little too forcefully and a little too quickly.

 _This guy's an amateur._ Ming could tell from the look on Liam's face that Nathan had just confirmed his suspicions. _But if Madison is bringing him along on this, she must have a good reason, whatever this is._

"So everyone is raiding my liquor cabinet today?"

Ming couldn't resist, she pinched Madison, eliciting that delightful little yelp she always made. "Now, now, Tianxin, they are our guests."

To her surprise, Madison pinched her back, "They are the people we are going to do a number of very illegal things with, that is not the definition of a guest."

Madison just barely managed to put down her wine glass when Ming pulled her close against her body. "You are just begging me to punish you."

There was that little grin on Madison's face, the one that reminded her just how much Madison knew she was the one in control of their relationship, being the sub. "I don't beg."

"Keep pushing it, I might just pull you over my knee and spank you right here." Then there was something new, something that hadn't been there when they'd first met. It was a certain sparkle in her eyes, like a new facet freshly cut into an emerald. It had been there during the break in, it was there again now.

"Don't tease me if you aren't going to deliver." Madison bit her lip, the same way she did when they were…

That was it, within a second Ming had her lips on Madison's. Madison leaned harder into her and brought one knee up against Ming's hip.

"Girls, I know we're friends and all," Liam's voice drew them back into reality. "But we are guys dammit and you are two hot chicks making out."

Ming looked at the two male occupants of the room. While she and Madison been lost in each other, the guys had gotten themselves glasses of Madison's top shelf whisky. "Oh, sorry," she mumbled.

"Um, I like day drinking and watching girls make out as much as the next guy, but ma'am, I think we should discuss the operation." Nate hadn't touched his liquor, but his cheeks were bright red.

"Yeah, probably, get the gear, will you Nate?" Madison smoothed out her clothes and picked up her wine again. "Liam, how familiar are you with Eddie Winters' organization?"

Clearly uncomfortable with where this was going, Liam took a long drink of his scotch before speaking. "I've been out of it for a while, so I'm not exactly still on the newsletter mailing list, but I was a good soldier for Winter. I still know a few people who run with them."

"Good, I need you to find us some low hanging fruit, some low level operations we can disrupt, nothing too big, but something Winter will notice. I want him curious, irritated, and hopefully a bit scared. But I don't want him out for blood." As she sipped her wine, Ming could almost see the wheels turning in Madison's head.

Liam did not look nearly as pleased as Madison. "Yay, so we go from breaking and entering to picking a fight with the biggest gangster in town."

"We aren't picking a fight with him," Madison insisted, then paused and thought about it for a moment. "We aren't picking a big fight with him. We just need to get his attention and drag him out into the open, then grab him and isolate him. Then I need to talk to him."

It was at that moment that Nate stepped back into the kitchen. He looked more confident and far more comfortable now that he was dressed in one of the sets of black body armor with a laser rifle slung over his shoulder and the bags containing the rest of their gear hanging from his hands.

He set the bags down and unzipped one of them. "Four AER9 laser assault rifle," He said as he laid the items out on the kitchen floor. "Four sets of second gen IIIA ballistic weave combat armor," these were thick black vests that would stop anything short of a rifle round. "Two syringes of propofol," the modern equivalent of a rag of chloroform. "Three bricks of C4," military grade plastic explosives. "Your legend for the op," he held up a folder containing a packet of documents. Madison made to grab it, but Ming was faster.

"You have a legend for this, my curiosity has piqued." She flipped through the documents, and despite her best efforts not to, she burst out laughing. _I love these kinds of covers._

"What's so funny?" Madison's expression somehow conveyed concern and irritation at the same time.

"It's nothing, standard cover for this kind of op." It was, but these sorts of ops always required a level of ridiculousness.

Madison snatched the file from her, read it over, and groaned. "Well," she said in what Ming had come to recognize as her I-want-to-smack-someone voice. "At least it's no worse than any of my nicknames in grade school."

"You did have some pretty crappy nicknames in grade school." The voice was familiar, but it wasn't supposed to be there. The group collectively turned to see Emma standing outside of the elevator, a dozen shopping bags dropped to the floor on either side of her. "Why is there a guy in body armor holding a laser rifle in our kitchen?"

The room was dead silent, no one was really sure how to properly answer that. Unaffected by the crushing silence and the awkward stares, Emma stepped around the counter and looked at the gear laid out on the floor. "And why is there an arsenal laid out on the floor?"

 _This is her call,_ Ming thought turning to Madison. _There aren't a lot of ways that she could handle this._

To almost everyone's surprise, Madison merely smacked herself in the forehead and sighed. "We are not good at hiding this." Then she looked back up at Emma.

"This is a bit of a long story Emma, you might want to get a drink." She paused, appeared to think about it for a second, then turned back towards the liquor cabinet.

"Actually, I think we'd better just open another bottle or three."

 **I don't necessarily like how this turned out. I feel like I started out strong, but I lost it near the end. I knew that I wanted to bring Emma in on the covert ops, but I feel like I may have been clumsy with it.**

 **Either way, what do you guys think? I live for feedback, good or bad, I want opinions.**

 **Also, anyone catch the little touch of Sunstone in there. If you haven't heard of it, it's a great webcomic by Shiniez on Deviantart. It is my touchstone for bondage and lesbian relationships.**

 **Read and Review people.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Quick thing I forgot when I posted this, cover my ass warning: Lesbian sexy wrestling and spanking ahead.**

 **If that offends you, I don't get you, but go elsewhere.**

 **Operation Moralltach: Briefing and Read In**

"So, just let me see if I'm understanding everything."

They were all sitting on the couch in the living room. Every one of them had a drink of some kind in their hand. The only one who wasn't two or three glasses in was Nate, who was still nursing his first glass of whisky. Emma took a long drink of her wine before starting again.

She looked at Madison. "So you've been working for a black ops intelligence agency being run by a friend of our fathers'."

Madison nodded, "Yes."

She turned to Ming. "And you're a former Chinese spy who turned into a double agent for the black ops agency Madison is working for. And you turned after the Chinese wanted you to spy on Madison, which they did at the Calvert party. There were Chinese spies in the same room as me that night, other than that one Nick caught."

Ming sipped her third glass of wine, "Excluding me and that one, I'd say there were probably six or seven Department spies in the room that night. But, yeah, pretty much."

Then she looked at Liam, who was grinning at being proven right. "And you used to be a part of the Irish mob, and Madison paid you to help her break into some guy's apartment because you know how to be a criminal."

"Yep, though I prefer the term extralegal associate." Liam paused for a moment, "actually that sounds stupid, criminal works. In either case, I was right about who Madison works for." He looked at Madison, "Speaking of which, how much are you paying me for this Eddie Winter job, because it's going to cost a lot more than a simple break in."

"We'll talk about it after I tell you the plan."

Emma's gaze finally fell on Nate. "And you're a special ops type who's with the agency."

Nate looked nervous as hell again, probably unsure if they were allowed to tell Emma everything they had. He hesitated, but after a minute and a half, he nodded. "Yes, but technically it's not the agency, it's the Activity."

Emma downed the rest of her wine and poured herself another, then did it again. She took a deep breath and looked around the room.

"Alright," she said, "How can I help?"

"You can't!" Nate burst out, "Just you knowing flies against every rule in the book. Bringing you in on an operation would be... It's too far over the line. You need to forget everything that you've been told and never speak about this ever again."

 _How green is this guy?_ Ming thought.

"Relax Nathan." Madison said, "It's not a problem."

Her voice was calm, almost oddly calm considering the situation. Ming had seen covers blown often enough, there was always some stress, even when it was a friend doing the blowing. And it was a bit odd that she'd told Nate to get their gear, there was no reason not to leave it in the living room until after the briefing. And Madison had to know that Emma could get home at any… minute…

 _She planned this._

"Not a problem?" Nate said incredulously, "Not a problem? It's a huge problem. The first thing they told me when they brought me in was 'no one can ever know you're with the Activity.' It is rule number one."

"It's rule number one for tactical support, I'm an intelligence officer. We get a different playbook. Now calm down so that we can get this briefing started." There was an authority to her voice, if Ming was entirely honest with herself, it was kind of sexy. _But then again, everything about her is sexy._ She thought, hiding a small grin with her drink.

Despite his apparent reservations, Nate did as he was told. He was a military type, she'd seen a lot of his type in China. They might question a lot of things in private, but an order from a direct superior, or at least someone they thought was a direct superior, was gospel. Ming wasn't entirely sure how the ranking hierarchy worked at this Activity yet, but if it was anything like the Department's, the intel officers ranked above the door-kickers.

"Alright," Madison looked at each person in the room. "I'm sure everyone in this room knows who Eddie Winter is. Liam's more familiar than most, but he's a bit of a local celebrity. He's also funneling weapons stolen from the US military to the Irish Republican Army. We are going to stop this."

Liam poured himself another glass of the 35,000 dollar amber fluid. "If you're thinking of getting him busted and flipping him, think of something else. Eddie has some damn good lawyers and he doesn't talk to cops. He'll do his time standing up and keep the show running even in prison orange."

"That's why we're not going to arrest him, we're going to become his new business associates." Madison's smile became particularly catlike.

"So you want to hit his street level stuff, you have a hell of a way of making friends Maddy."

"First rule of business, negotiate from a point of strength. We need to convince him that we're bigger fish than him, that his options are to be our friend or to die a slow painful death. To do that, we have to intimidate him and show him that we aren't lackeys, we aren't even partners, we're his new boss." _She's a good briefer, keeps it interesting._ Some of the people the Department had seemed like they were kept in supply closets and were wheeled out as needed.

"Liam, get together with Nate and come up with something we can hit." Madison pointed to each of them as she said their names. "Remember, we want attention, not hatred, so something more than roughing up one of his guys, but less than taking out one of his lieutenants."

They nodded and Madison turned to her roommate, "Emma, this is all about Intimidation, and that's all about image." She slid the file containing her legend over the coffee table. "Have a look at this and see what you can come up with, go with scary, but professional."

Emma grabbed the folder and split her face in half with a grin from ear to ear. "Oooh," she practically squealed, "I have so many ideas."

 _If there's one thing that Emma loves, it's playing dress up._ Ming could barely stop herself from laughing, still, that's what made Emma so good at being a fashion designer. She loved what she did, and despite what many might think, her role would be just as important in the operation as anyone else's. Winter would probably look into Madison's cover's background when they made their move, but more important than the files in the folders, was the impression that they made in person.

"Alright," Madison refilled her glass and raised it. "We'll meet here again tomorrow, after that, operation Moralltach is a go, and it shall leave no strike unfinished."

"Salud." She toasted.

"Salud," they followed.

"Come on greeny, we have to hit up a few of my old friends before the pubs get too crowded." Liam grabbed Nate by the arm and headed for the door. "And if you go all boy scout on me, you're gonna get us a beating for the ages."

"I have to hit the shops before they close, you are going to look epic." Emma planted a kiss on the top of Madison's head on her way out, despite Madison's feigned resistance. "This is going to be so much fun, don't wait up."

And then it was just the two of them.

They sat in silence, sipping their drinks for about five seconds before they were on each other. Ming was on top, grabbing Madison by the arms and trying to pin her with her knees. Madison grinned as she leveraged her hips and rolled them off the couch. Ming followed the momentum of the roll and dragged the roll one rotation further to stay on top. She locked her knees around Madison's hips, effectively pinning her lower body. That didn't stop Madison from trying to pull her in and wrap an arm around her neck for a chokehold. Ming slipped her head out of it and got a grip on Madison's wrist, then grabbed the other one when her girlfriend tried to break the wristlock. Then she pulled both of Madison's hands above her head, trapping her arms against the plush carpet. Madison wriggled under her, but couldn't get away. The pin was solid.

"Give up?" She asked, licking her lips.

"You ever think that our relationship involves too much sex?"

The question caught her by surprise, "No, I mean, I don't think so. Do you?" _She can stop this at any time, she knows that, all she has to do is say the word._ She took a little pressure off of her pin on girlfriend's hips so she could get off quickly if Madison wanted her to.

"No," she grinned, "but it got you to loosen your grip."

Ming felt Madison's legs wrap around her torso and pull her back, putting Madison on top. Ming wrapped her own arms and legs around Madison's torso and used her greater strength to pull her tight, pressing their chests together. Then she planted a kiss on Madison's mouth, slipping her tongue in between her lips. She held the kiss as she hit Madison with a light peroneal strike, then used the sudden weakness in Madison's leg to turn the tables. She pinned Madison's legs again, and got a hold on her hands again. Holding Madison's wrists in the crook of her elbow, she grabbed a scarf that she'd left on the couch and quickly bound Madison's arms together at the elbows. With her arms secure, Ming stood up and grabbed Madison's legs at the knees.

"Give up?" She asked again, starting to sweat.

"No." Madison responded, panting slightly.

"Good," Ming grinned, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

She pulled Madison by her knees to the couch and sat down, dragging Madison up on to her lap. A task that was easier to do in her mind than to put into action. Ming was strong and Madison was smaller than her, but pulling the writhing young woman up still left her already tired arms burning faintly with exhaustion. She restrained Madison's legs by putting her own left leg over them, then she pinned Madison's bound arms against her back with her elbow. A slight adjustment of her right leg to push Madison's hips up slightly and the positioning was perfect.

"I warned you." She hooked a finger through one of the belt loops on Madison's jeans and pulled them down her legs, exposing her underwear. Ming took a hold of the waistband and pulled up, hard. Giving Madison one heck of a wedgie, eliciting a squeal from her, and exposing her cheeks. "Give up?"

Madison tried wriggling some more, but Ming's grip was rock solid, "no."

Ming grinned and shook her head, then she raised her hand and brought it down. This continued for a good eight minutes, raising her hand and bringing it down, up and down, left and right, until Madison's rear was a delightful shade of red. As always, Madison yelped loudly at every slap to her bottom for the first few minutes, but by the time it was done, the pain had turned to pleasure and the yelps were replaced with quiet moans.

"So," Ming said, resting her arm on Madison's waist, "give up?"

"Mmmh," Madison murmured, "Yes, Mistress."

"Good," Ming ran her finger up Madison's spine.

"Now the real fun can get started."

….

 _Is it me, or are we getting better at this?_

They'd retired to the bedroom and their engagement had only become more intense once they were properly equipped. After a very long, very thorough session, they lay on their bed, side by side, covered in sweat, muscles aching pleasantly.

"So," Madison rolled over and propped her head up with her elbow. "Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"What are you talking about?" She turned onto her side and looked Madison in her eyes. And immediately knew that Madison saw right through her.

"Lawyer's dodge, I can see that look in your eyes. Something has been bothering you all night. Is it this thing with the Activity?" _Damn those green eyes._

"Tianxin…" Ming laid her hand on Madison's hip, "be honest with me, we don't hide things from each other. Doing these operations, working with this group, is it really something that you want to be doing?"

Madison bit her lip, but she finally spoke. "I love it, to be completely honest, it's the most interesting thing I've ever done. It's the only intellectual challenge that I've had since I came to Boston. Classes are a breeze when the teachers aren't misogynistic pricks. Speaking of which, unlike the school, the people with the Activity actually respect me. They don't care that I'm rich, they don't care that I have a contact book filled with the names of people that can move armies and pass laws, they only care about how well I can do the job."

"And," Madison blushed, "as corny as it sounds, I really do feel like I'm doing something actually…" she trailed off.

"Important," Ming offered.

"Yeah. Like I said, it's corny, but it's true."

"No, I get it." _It's what I thought about the Department back when I just started._

"What about you? I know I kind of dragged you into this." Madison put her hand on top of Ming's.

 _She blames herself for my getting involved,_ Ming smiled, _of course she does._ "Tianxin, when I asked you that same question, what did you tell me?

"I don't get dragged into anything."

"Right," Ming caressed Madison's cheek. "So what makes you think that I can? You can always rely on me, and if this is something you want to be involved in, then that includes for operational support."

"You are the ultimate freaking girlfriend, you know that?"

Ming pecked her girlfriend on the lips, "And don't forget it."

Ming rolled back onto her back. "By the way, why didn't you just tell Emma? Why the charades?"

Madison laughed, "Caught on to that, did you?"

"You weren't exactly subtle about it, it's the only real reason why you would have Nate lay out all of the gear only to put it back right away." She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I suppose that wasn't my most cunning maneuver. Fair enough, I wanted to cover my ass with bringing her in, I know Emma, she has skills that could help in future ops, but she's also the only one that the Activity really might object to." Madison reached over and grabbed the folder containing her legend. _Going over it again_ , Ming thought, _she'll probably read that thing eighty times before this thing get's going._

"And why is that?" Ming grabbed her notes, if they were staying up, she had a new program she was still workshopping.

"She's clean, the Activity has nothing on her if she wanted to go public. Ming, you're a Chinese spy who has committed capital crimes against the United States, Liam's a former mobster, and Nate and I are already with the Activity. I know her, she wouldn't do that, but I wanted to be able to tell the Payne and Karen that I had no choice in the matter."

"Understandable," Ming replied, examining an algorithm. "Though I don't like calling my operations capital crimes."

"That is technically what they are."

"True," Ming poked Madison in the stomach, "but I still don't like it. And besides, spies are just government funded criminals."

"Well, if I'm going to be a criminal, at least I have some good partners in crime."

 **This one was a bit of a tough one, but I'm looking forward to actually getting the action started. This whole slow boil thing may be realistic, but it's harder to write than action scenes.**

 **So tell me what you think. I, much like johnny5, feed on input.**

 **Read and Review people,**

 **Later.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Operation Moralltach: Implementation**

Their table was in a private dining room at Dominico's, a five star Italian restaurant frequented by the nouveau riche of Boston's technology sector. The room was dark, lit by ornate wall fixtures, chandeliers, and candle light, the walls were crimson, and the waiters wore evening jackets. It was the kind of place that one would imagine mafia dons used to hold meetings. Something that Liam had quickly disillusioned them of, the local commission apparently met in a little place called Scivola's in the North End.

Tonight however, it was the meeting place of spies. Madison had reserved their table at the last minute, she'd originally planned on ordering out for their meeting, but her favorite delivery place was closed for the owner's birthday. So she decided that if they were going out for this meeting, they were going somewhere great.

And that was how they found themselves ordering from the wine list and waiting anxiously for the waiter to leave so that they could discuss the matter that was on everyone's minds. They made awkward small talk while over the appetizers until the servers presented the main course. Once the glasses were filled and the meals presented, Madison slipped the waiter a fifty and told him they weren't to be bothered for an hour, and to leave the bottles of wine.

"So," Madison said. "Liam, what do you have for us?"

Liam took a long drink of his wine before speaking, "Me and greeny got a couple of my old buddies from Winters crew good and deep in their cups last night." He grinned at Madison, "I kept the receipt, I expect to be reimbursed for the expenses."

Madison rolled her eyes, _was he always such a smartass or did he just decide to get annoying when I brought him in on this?_ But she waved her hand for him to continue.

"They told me about a couple of things that Winter has going within the next week. He's got a guy dealing illegal cigarettes out of an old Corvega over in Hangman's Alley, his boys are doing the protection rounds on Wednesday, and he's got a shipment of Buffout coming in that'll be stashed in warehouse in the harbor on Friday."

"Hmm," Madison processed the information as she chewed a mouthful of spaghetti. "Nate, what do you think, are these viable from a tactical perspective?"

Nate picked at his ravioli, "The dealer is a soft target, bash him in the head, grab the cigarettes, and leave. That's as easy as it gets. The guys on the protection run, it's iffy, but if they take the route that Liam's friends talked about, I'm pretty sure that I can find a good ambush point for us to hit them. The warehouse is the one I'm really not sure about."

"Why is that?" Ming asked between mouthfuls of tortellini.

"There are too many variables, we have a location, but not how many guards there will be, we don't know what weapons they'll have, we don't know where the Buffout will be in the warehouse, I'd need surveillance on the location before I could confidently say we could hit the shipment successfully." Nate sipped his wine as he spoke. _He's a lot less awkward when he's in his element,_ Madison observed.

"Alright, one of us will just have to run surveillance on the place." Madison pointed to Nate with her fork, "you and Liam can handle the surveillance while we're in class, we'll set up a shift system and come up with an assault plan on Thursday. Is everyone comfortable with that?"

There were nods around the table. "Good," Madison said, "We'll hit the cigarette dealer tomorrow night. Nate, you and Ming can take point on that, make sure that the guy doesn't see you before you knock him out, I want Winter confused for a day or two. We'll let him know he's dealing with someone new on Wednesday. After we hit the shipment on Friday, then we'll make our big debut on Saturday to set up a meeting with Winter."

She turned to Emma, "Speaking of the meeting, Emma, you were the one in charge of preparing our look. What do you have for us?"

Emma, who had been silent up until now, practically burst with glee, pulling sketches out of her handbag. "I'm thinking that for most of us, we'll go with a classic secret service look. Black jacket and pants with white undershirts, the uniformity gives off that organized feel, the black and white oozes professionalism. And the black body armor adds that nice intimidation factor. If we're looking for anonymity, then we could add balaclavas, but I feel that kind of takes away from the overall feel."

 _This is surreal,_ Madison thought, _she's describing the uniform for a series of government sponsored crimes like she would pitch a design in Milan._

"This is great Emma-" Madison began.

Emma cut her off as she dug another sketch out of her bag. "Do not speak until you've seen what I have for you Maddy, you haven't seen anything yet. This is my freaking masterpiece for this collection."

She reached across the table to shove the paper into Madison's hands. "The suit is a level above the rest in quality to make it clear that you are the leader. But more important than that is the theme. I went biblical with this, classic blood red undershirt and tie with a pure black jacket and pants. I'm also thinking we dye your hair crimson and have you wear red contacts. The accessories are gold with ruby gemstones. I call the look fire and brimstone, I wanted to really push the classic woman of wealth and taste feel, the red is a bit overpowering, but the black contrast will really balance everything out."

"Emma," Madison said, "you have outdone yourself."

Emma just grinned.

"When Eddie Winter meets you, he'll feel like he's looking into the eyes of the devil herself." Emma being herself, she had to pause for dramatic effect.

"And he'll remember the name Lucy Ferris.

 **So what do you guys think? The action gets going next chapter and I'm looking forward to it.**

 **BTW, I'm thinking of starting an XCOM story, would anyone be interested in that?**

 **Read and Review people.**

 **Later.**


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